    [Senate Hearing 112-458]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

                                                            S. Hrg. 112-458

             LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARINGS

                                    before a

                              SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE

                COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE

                          ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS

                                 FIRST SESSION

                                       on

                                   H.R. 2551

    AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH FOR THE FISCAL
             YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2012, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                                   __________

                 Architect of the Capitol (except House items)
                          Congressional Budget Office
                        Government Accountability Office
                           Government Printing Office
                              Library of Congress
                              Office of Compliance
                          United States Capitol Police
                                  U.S. Senate

                                   __________

             Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations

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            committee.action?chamber=senate&committee=appropriations

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                                   __________

                          COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

                       DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman
    PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont            THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi, Ranking
    TOM HARKIN, Iowa                     MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
    BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland        RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama
    HERB KOHL, Wisconsin                 KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas
    PATTY MURRAY, Washington             LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
    DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California         SUSAN COLLINS, Maine
    RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois          LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
    TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota            LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
    MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana          MARK KIRK, Illinois
    JACK REED, Rhode Island              DANIEL COATS, Indiana
    FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey      ROY BLUNT, Missouri
    BEN NELSON, Nebraska                 JERRY MORAN, Kansas
    MARK PRYOR, Arkansas                 JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
    JON TESTER, Montana                  RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin
    SHERROD BROWN, Ohio

                        Charles J. Houy, Staff Director
                      Bruce Evans, Minority Staff Director
                                     ------

                     Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch

                         BEN NELSON, Nebraska, Chairman
    JON TESTER, Montana                  JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
    SHERROD BROWN, Ohio                  LINDSEY GRAHAM, South Carolina
    DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii (ex         THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi (ex
        officio)                             officio)
                               Professional Staff
                                   Lila Helms
                        Rachelle G. Schroeder (Minority)
                             Katie Batte (Minority)

                             Administrative Support

                                 Maria Veklich

                                C O N T E N T S

                                  ----------

                            Thursday, March 3, 2011

                                                                       Page

    Architect of the Capitol.........................................     1
    Office of Compliance.............................................    18

                            Thursday, March 17, 2011

    Government Accountability Office.................................    45
    Government Printing Office.......................................    54
    Congressional Budget Office......................................    61

                            Thursday, March 31, 2011

    Library of Congress..............................................    87

                             Thursday, May 12, 2011

    U.S. Senate:
        Office of the Secretary......................................   121
        Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper..............................   192
    United States Capitol Police.....................................   217

             LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, MARCH 3, 2011

                                           U.S. Senate,
               Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The subcommittee met at 2:32 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
    Senate Office Building, Hon. Ben Nelson (chairman) presiding.
        Present: Senators Nelson and Hoeven.

                            ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

    STATEMENT OF STEPHEN T. AYERS, ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

                    opening statement of senator ben nelson

        Senator Nelson. The subcommittee will come to order
    officially. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome.
        This is our first hearing of fiscal year 2012, and I want
    to start by welcoming my new ranking member, Senator Hoeven,
    from North Dakota, a former Governor.
        I look forward to working closely with you, Senator, as I
    did with my former ranking member and good friend, Senator
    Murkowski.
        I also want to welcome the other members of the
    subcommittee: Senator Tester, Senator Brown, and Senator
    Graham.
        I look forward to having the additional assistance in
    providing appropriations and oversight for the legislative
    branch of our Government.
        It seems a little odd to be meeting today, talking about
    fiscal year 2012 appropriations, but we do live in interesting
    times, and finishing up our fiscal year 2011 appropriations
    bill has proven to be more than a slight challenge. Maybe the
    greatest challenge I'll have today is to stay on track as we
    discuss fiscal year 2012 requests while operating at fiscal
    year 2010 levels during fiscal year 2011.
        Nevertheless, we do meet today to take the testimony on the
    fiscal 2012 budget requests from the Architect of the Capitol
    (AOC) and the Office of Compliance (OOC).
        I want to welcome our two witnesses today: Stephen Ayers,
    Architect of the Capitol and Tamara Chrisler, Esq., Executive
    Director of the Office of Compliance.
        Mr. Ayers, when we met here last year, I introduced you as
    ``Acting'' Architect of the Capitol. And so, I want to first
    congratulate you on your recent confirmation as the 11th
    Architect of the Capitol.
        Mr. Ayers. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Nelson. We appreciate your service over the last
    few years and wish you all the best in this endeavor.
        I also want to congratulate Ms. Beth Plemmons, on your
    staff, for her recent appointment as CEO of Visitor Services.
        Your budget request this year totals $706 million, an
    increase of $104 million, or 17 percent, more than the current
    year. And by ``current year'', I'm once again referring to
    fiscal year 2010 enacted, which is what we are currently
    operating under.
        Mr. Ayers, you are understandably under an awful lot of
    pressure to accomplish what you need to in keeping the campus
    operating safely and efficiently. I, on the other hand, am also
    under a great deal of pressure to control Government spending.
    So, we'll need to work together to tighten this budget where we
    can, without subjecting our Visitors Services employees to
    hazardous conditions.
        Included in your request is $179 million worth of line-item
    construction projects, out of which two-thirds is for repairs
    and improvements, campuswide, and one-fifth involve life
    safety. Now, as important as these projects are, the reality is
    that many of these will have to be suspended and wait until
    another time.
        Ms. Chrisler, the fiscal year 2012 budget request for the
    OOC totals $4.8 million, an increase of $405,000, or 9 percent,
    more than the current year.
        As I just noted regarding Mr. Ayers' request, this is
    something the subcommittee may not be able to support in the
    current budget environment. However, we appreciate the efforts
    that both of your agencies have made to work cooperatively
    toward resolving the many fire- and life-safety needs around
    the complex given the limited resources.
        We look forward to your testimonies, in both cases, and to
    discussing the status of health and safety conditions
    throughout the Capitol.
        And now it's my pleasure to turn to the ranking member,
    Senator Hoeven, for any opening remarks that he may have.

                        STATEMENT OF SENATOR JOHN HOEVEN

        Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Senator Nelson. I look forward
    to working with you, as the Chairman, on this subcommittee, and
    also want to thank both Mr. Ayers and Ms. Chrisler for being
    here today, and look forward to listening to your testimony.
        Like you, Senator Nelson, I bring a background as a
    Governor to this job, and certainly in that respect, working
    not only with a legislative body, as is the case with this
    Congress, but also working on a budget. And, of course, as a
    State, we had to balance a budget. I know that's true in
    Nebraska, as well. And the Chairman's right, obviously--and
    something that you all well know--that we have to work within
    the confines that we have. And that is that we have a
    significant and growing deficit and debt. And so we're going to
    have to find ways to trim and prioritize. And that's part of
    the process that we'll go through together and do the very best
    job that we can.
        Obviously I have a learning curve here with understanding
    your budgets. It's certainly good to hear directly from you and
    to work on this prioritization, and do the very best job we can
    for the people that we represent. Your expertise is vital in
    the process. I respect that greatly, and am going to work to do
    the best I can to produce the very best budget within the
    constraints that we have, both as we work through the balance,
    of fiscal year 2011, but also as we to get into working on
    fiscal year 2012.
        And I'm very hopeful that, as we do, we're going to get
    into a process where we go through that normal budgeting
    process, where we do our subcommittee work, where we, you know,
    have our authorizations, where we work on our appropriations,
    where we provide that opportunity for testimony and input, and
    that we bring those budgets up, and that we not only do our
    subcommittee work, then we get to the full committee, and from
    there to the floor, we take each of these appropriation budgets
    up to the floor, have our debate--our colleagues in the House
    do the same thing--and go do our subcommittee work in our
    conference committee. And that is the process, and I'm very
    anxious to get going on that for fiscal year 2012. So, we're
    hopefully working ahead of the curve within the process that we
    should have here in the Congress.
        Throughout that process, and throughout this process, in
    terms of finishing up fiscal year 2011, again, I do want to
    emphasize that I certainly recognize that you're the experts in
    this area and will do everything I can to take your input and
    use it to best advantage. At the same time, we have limitations
    we're going to have to work within and meet.
        Senator Hoeven. Thank you for being here today.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you, Senator.
        Now I'd like to begin with the witnesses. If it's possible
    to keep your opening statements to somewhere around 5 minutes
    and submit the rest for the record, that would work best.
        So, we'll start first, Mr. Ayers, with you, and then we'll
    hear from Ms. Chrisler. So, please proceed.

                     SUMMARY STATEMENT OF STEPHEN T. AYERS

        Mr. Ayers. Good afternoon, Mr. Chairman and Senator Hoeven.
    Thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding our
    fiscal year 2012 budget request.
        Today, we face significant challenges as our facilities and
    infrastructure continue to age and our mission continues to
    expand. In fact, we currently have a backlog of nearly $1.5
    billion in deferred maintenance and capital renewal projects
    that, if left unaddressed, could greatly impact the safety and
    security of the Capitol campus. And, as steward of this Capitol
    campus, I know that investment in our aging and historic
    infrastructure is vital. However, I also realize that the
    current fiscal environment presents a very difficult challenge
    for us to do more with less, and I think our budget request
    reflects this challenge.
        To ensure that we make the maximum use of every taxpayer
    dollar, we continue to identify cost savings and efficiencies
    and to aggressively address the most effective ways to use our
    limited resources. We've implemented comprehensive performance
    metrics, and they've led to significant improvements and cost
    savings in our organization.
        For example, we've recently reduced our inventory of
    supplies on hand from $56 million down to $7.5 million. We've
    consolidated information technology (IT) equipment across the
    agency and eliminated 150 printers and fax machines. And we've
    successfully leveraged the use of performance specifications,
    thereby eliminating unnecessary design fees for several
    projects. Little things like this add up, and we can use those
    savings toward our more important projects.
        We've utilized public private partnerships to finance
    energy reduction projects, allowing us to invest appropriated
    funds in higher priorities. We've also renegotiated several
    leases to get lower rates, and have reduced our staff through
    attrition, without impacting our ability to achieve our
    mission.

                     AOC DEG.PRIORITIZED PROJECTS

        In addition to implementing operational and business-
    process efficiencies, we've carefully prioritized projects and
    operational funding. We've examined all existing accounts,
    identified available funds from nearly completed projects, and
    took on additional risk by reducing our construction
    contingency funding on several of these projects. And through
    this effort, we funded nearly $15 million in new projects with
    money that's already been appropriated to us. And this has
    enabled us to further reduce our fiscal year 2012 request.
        This budget reflects the highest requirements to prevent or
    delay further deterioration in our buildings. We've also
    included projects to improve security and safety across the
    campus. And, in addition, Mr. Chairman, we have deferred nearly
    $130 million of projects that are necessary and ready to
    proceed.

                  AOC DEG.AOC'S COMMITMENT AND STAFF

        Through the work of our professional staff, we're able to
    address client needs on a daily basis, maintain our facilities
    and mitigate the amount the project funds currently require.
    However, even at this level of funding, the operational budget
    alone won't enable us to defer projects indefinitely. In fact,
    problems will only become more severe and, in the end, cost
    more.
        The AOC embodies a commitment to preserving and maintaining
    the historic fabric of our country. And our fiscal year 2012
    request reflects the seriousness with which we take this
    commitment. We continue to be successful in our mission due to
    the skilled work and talent of our dedicated staff. We
    continually reap the benefits of their knowledge, skills, and
    experience. And I'm proud and honored to lead this dedicated
    team.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        And their work has not gone unnoticed, as our 2010 customer
    satisfaction surveys have shown again that more than 90 percent
    of our customers are fully satisfied with the level of service
    we provide them on a daily basis. And we're very proud of that.
        Again, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for the opportunity to
    testify. And I would be happy to answer any questions you may
    have.
        [The statement follows:]

                     Prepared Statement of Stephen T. Ayers

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee,
    thank you for the opportunity to testify today regarding the Architect
    of the Capitol's (AOC) fiscal year 2012 budget request.
        I would like to begin by expressing my thanks to this subcommittee
    and to the Congress for its support of the AOC over the past several
    years as we worked to fulfill our mission of serving the Congress and
    the American people by maintaining and preserving the wonderful
    historic treasures entrusted to our care.

        We know first-hand the challenges of preserving historic buildings
    and planning for current and future requirements. It requires
    ingenuity, craftsmanship, perseverance, astute planning, diligence, and
    judicious management of resources. Our staff works around the clock to
    provide a safe and accessible environment for all who work and visit
    here.

        With the Congress' support, significant investments have been made
    in the buildings and infrastructure. Today, we face even greater
    challenges as the facilities continue to age and our mission continues
    to expand. In fact, we currently have a backlog of nearly $1.5 billion
    in deferred maintenance and capital renewal projects that, if left
    unaddressed over a significant length of time, could greatly impact
    safety and security across the Capitol campus.
        As steward of the Capitol campus, I know that investment in our
    aging and historic infrastructure is vital. However, we do realize that
    the current fiscal environment presents a very difficult challenge for
    the Congress, the AOC, and the American public to do more with less
    funding. Our fiscal year 2012 budget request reflects this challenge.
    We have carefully and systematically prioritized projects and
    meticulously developed our operational funding.
        To further ensure that we make the maximum use of every taxpayer
    dollar, we continue to identify additional cost savings and
    efficiencies, and to aggressively address the most effective way to use
    limited resources. We have implemented comprehensive performance
    measurements and metrics for nearly every aspect of our organization
    and these have led to significant agency improvements and cost savings.
    This data-driven management culture permeates our agency and gets
    results. For example, by improving our internal controls and requiring
    more extensive reporting, we have dramatically decreased leave errors
    in our time and attendance process. We also have established goals to
    improve efficiencies in our operations, such as our efforts to increase
    procurement opportunities for small businesses. In fiscal year 2010, we
    exceeded those goals by awarding more than $20 million in contracts to
    small businesses.
        Assisting me in these efforts is our Chief Operating Officer,
    Christine Merdon. Ms. Merdon joined the AOC in September 2010, and she
    brings a wealth of experience to our organization from both the public
    and private sectors, including small business acumen.
        She began her Federal career in 1981 as a cooperative education
    engineering student for the Navy. After earning her Bachelor of Science
    degree in 1987, from the University of Maryland in Civil Engineering,
    she continued her career with the Navy as a project engineer and
    project manager. In 1998, she received a Master of Science degree in
    Civil Engineering.
        In 1990, she joined the White House Military Office as a Project
    Manager responsible for managing classified design and construction
    projects at the White House, Camp David, and other Presidential support
    facilities. In 1998, Ms. Merdon was hired by Clark Construction, LLC,
    where she was project manager and superintendent for numerous projects
    including the American Red Cross Headquarters, Bethesda Place II, and
    the renovation of Baltimore's historic Hippodrome Theater.
        Ms. Merdon joined McKissack & McKissack in 2000, where she ascended
    to the role of Senior Vice President of Program and Construction
    Management. Her responsibilities included operations and business
    development for program and construction management contracts in
    Washington, DC; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California. There
    she was responsible for the successful management of more than $11
    billion in major construction projects and programs including:
    Washington Nationals Major League Baseball stadium; O'Hare
    Modernization Program; Eisenhower Executive Office Building life-safety
    upgrades; Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial; Smithsonian
    Institution's National Museum for African American History; and the
    Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorial Renovations.
        Over the past several months, Ms. Merdon and I have been working to
    save the taxpayers time and money. For example, we reduced our
    inventory of supplies on hand from $56 million to $7.5 million. We are
    also consolidating information technology equipment agency-wide and
    have eliminated more than 150 printers and fax machines over the past
    18 months. We have successfully leveraged the use of performance
    specifications to avoid unnecessary design fees for several Senate
    projects, and we are using in-house staff on many of our major
    construction projects, which has resulted in saving hundreds of
    thousands of taxpayer dollars.
        We also modified how we staffed the postelection office moves,
    bringing on temporary staff versus contracting out for the services,
    which resulted in significant savings. During one of the hottest
    summers on record last year, we expanded our energy curtailment program
    from a few hours on ``gold days'' to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
    during State work periods. In addition, we have utilized public-private
    partnerships to finance energy reduction projects, allowing us to
    invest appropriated funds in other priority projects. At the Capitol
    Power Plant (CPP), we utilized a ``free cooling'' initiative where we
    used cold, outside air to create chilled water without running the
    chillers, thereby conserving electricity and saving money. We also
    renegotiated several leases to get the best rates, and we have looked
    to reduce staff through attrition where we can without impacting our
    ability to achieve our mission.

            aoc deg.FISCAL YEAR 2012 CAPITOL BUDGET REQUEST

        In addition to implementing these operational and business process
    efficiencies, we have carefully and meticulously prioritized projects
    and operational funding.
        For example, in fiscal year 2010, we examined all of our existing
    accounts, worked to identify available funds from projects that were
    nearly complete, and took on additional risk by decreasing construction
    contingency funding in some cases. Through this effort, we were able to
    fund nearly $15 million in new projects with existing resources,
    further decreasing our need for fiscal year 2011 funding. This, in
    turn, enabled us to further decrease our fiscal year 2012 request.
    Moving forward, we will continue to evaluate our ongoing projects,
    assess associated risks to congressional operations, and continue to
    find ways to fund projects with existing funds.
        However, we also identified projects or requirements that could be
    deferred, albeit not without significant risk. As funding is delayed,
    the requirements will worsen, the risk will escalate, and when funded,
    the projects will be more costly.

        As a result of these exercises, we are requesting funding for only
    the most urgent projects and operational shortfalls. Our fiscal year
    2012 request of $706 million is nearly $50 million lower than our
    fiscal year 2011 request, and represents a 6.5 percent decrease from
    our fiscal year 2011 request.

        The fiscal year 2012 budget request reflects the highest
    requirements to prevent or delay further deterioration and system
    malfunctions and/or failures. We have included more than $7 million for
    projects to improve security on the Capitol campus, and $38.4 million
    for life-safety projects.
        As I noted earlier, we have identified projects that might be
    deferred, but we have also assumed a level of risk in doing so. We will
    rely on our operating budgets to manage these risks. This will enable
    us to continue to maintain and sustain equipment, components, and
    systems; however, it would not guarantee that we could provide the
    necessary replacements in the event of system failure.

       aoc deg.CAPITOL BUDGET REQUEST AND PROJECT PRIORITIZATION

        We currently have a backlog of nearly $1.5 billion in deferred
    maintenance and capital renewal projects. One of our greatest
    challenges is to prioritize our efforts to ensure every taxpayer dollar
    goes toward the most important work. We have developed a world-class
    project prioritization process that ranks these projects based on the
    condition of the facilities, and the level of maintenance required to
    ensure they remain functional and viable working environments.

        This triage process for facilities attends to the most serious
    issues first, while addressing the necessary life-safety issues,
    security requirements, energy-savings projects, historic preservation
    measures, and the needs of our clients, while deferring the growing
    need for Capitol improvement and Capitol construction projects until
    later.
        We believe we have built our fiscal year 2012 budget that best
    balances these needs and requirements in these fiscally constrained
    times. We are requesting $179.2 million for Capitol projects, which is
    a $37 million or 17 percent decrease from the fiscal year 2011 Capitol
    projects request. We also are recommending that an additional $129
    million in necessary work, which is ready to proceed, be deferred to a
    later fiscal year due to the austere budget environment.
        We have several tools that we use to assess which facilities need
    emergency care versus those that can be nursed along until funding
    becomes available to address specific deferred maintenance and/or
    capital renewal projects in those particular buildings. These tools
    include facility condition assessments, the Capitol Complex Master
    Plan, jurisdiction plans, and the Five-Year Capitol Improvements Plan,
    which examines phasing opportunities, project sequencing, and other
    factors to better facilitate the timing of the execution of major
    deferred maintenance and capital renewal projects.
        Our comprehensive prioritization process rates projects on a number
    of objective factors to produce an overall hierarchy of importance.
    During this process, projects are classified by type and urgency. The
    projects are then scored against six criteria:
      --security;
      --safety and regulatory compliance;
      --historic preservation;
      --mission;
      --economics; and
      --energy efficiency and environmental quality.
        We rank projects based on a composite rating consisting of
    classification, urgency, and project importance. This year, we also
    applied a criticality and risk-decision model to the overall
    prioritization list, and the resulting outcome was used as one filter
    to inform which projects should be included in the fiscal year 2012
    budget request. We also recognize that our facilities need life-safety,
    security, and functional improvements to provide a safe working
    environment to support the Congress' mission, and our request reflects
    improvements in those areas.
        To further refine the data on which our planning is based, for the
    past several years we have conducted independent, third-party facility
    condition assessments. These assessments identify the most critical
    issues in the facilities, and the objective data collected during this
    process helps us identify the urgent needs that must be addressed.
        The charts on the next page compare the facility condition index
    from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2010. While the condition of the
    majority of congressional facilities, which are rated poor or fair,
    have not changed significantly, facilities once rated as excellent are
    beginning to trend downward. In fiscal year 2009, nine buildings were
    rated in excellent condition. In fiscal year 2010, there were just six.
    In fiscal year 2009, three buildings were listed as good. Now there are
    seven.

        Without regular and prudent investments made in these facilities,
    this unfortunate trend will continue, and the deterioration will
    continue, possibly to the point of impacting congressional operations.
    We will work to reduce the deterioration to avoid operational impacts,
    however, in this fiscally restrained climate; we will need to focus
    resources on those activities and projects that most directly support
    the Congress.
        To provide us with a 20-year, strategic look ahead to queue up
    priorities, investments, and projects, we use the Capitol Complex
    Master Plan. We have worked with the Congress over the past several
    years to develop the Master Plan and its related jurisdiction plans.
        There are nine jurisdiction plans that describe the facilities that
    are maintained and improved by each jurisdiction, detail the current
    use of space, and identify long-term facility needs of each
    jurisdiction. These plans help us make future decisions about facility
    renewal requirements and new projects. For example, there may be
    instances where major, whole building renovations should be undertaken
    rather than a myriad of smaller projects.
        The Capitol Complex Master Plan assumes incremental decisionmaking;
    providing the AOC and the Congress with a blueprint for facility-
    related decisionmaking and investment. It is an important tool because
    it:
      --Establishes stakeholder goals and direction on key decision points.
      --Assesses physical condition and capacities of buildings.
      --Identifies short- and long-range facility requirements.
      --Addresses sequencing issues.
      --Guides the Capitol Improvements Plan and funding requirements.
      --Manages stakeholder and building occupants' expectations.
        The Five-Year Capitol Improvements Plan helps us meet several goals
    by analyzing all of the facility requirements, grouping them into
    logical and economical sequencing and phasing, prioritizing the
    resulting requirements using a set of objective criteria, and
    establishing measureable outcomes.

        The chart above provides a snapshot of proposed funding requests in
    future years by appropriation. If investments are not made to address
    the backlog of deferred maintenance and capital renewal projects, the
    bow wave will continue to grow into a tidal wave of projects that could
    potentially lead to catastrophic results including system failures or
    building closures.

        A large portion of our Capitol budget request is to address
    deferred maintenance--$76.7 million or nearly 43 percent--that is
    critical to prevent or delay further deterioration. Several of these
    deferred maintenance projects that we are requesting funding for in
    fiscal year 2012 also address life-safety and security issues.
        These include:
      --Utility Tunnel Improvement Program.
      --Sprinkler system installation, Thomas Jefferson Building.
      --Skylight replacement, Hart Senate Office Building.
      --Structural repairs to underground garage, John Adams Building.
      --West House underground garage rehabilitation.
      --Modernize mechanical systems, Dirksen Senate Office Building.
        Other Capitol projects will help improve energy efficiencies, and
    thereby help save money, such as the relocation and replacement of 35-
    year-old chillers at the CPP, and upgrading utility distribution system
    components throughout the Capitol campus, including completing the
    Utility Tunnel Improvement Program, or support our Government's time-
    honored traditions with the construction of the stands and the planning
    of the support activities associated with the 2013 Presidential
    Inaugural ceremony.

        aoc deg.LIFE-SAFETY ENHANCEMENTS AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY
                                  IMPROVEMENTS

        Two areas that are top priorities for our agency are safety and
    energy reduction, and we continue to see dramatic results due to our
    efforts in identifying and managing risks, and increasing efficiencies
    and reducing energy consumption, which in turn, saves taxpayers money.

        Just as we have a robust and successful project prioritization
    process, we have a focused and proactive process in place to abate
    hazards, and have made substantial improvements to the Capitol campus
    infrastructure to enhance safety. With the Congress support, we have
    made significant investments to improve fire and life-safety systems
    within congressional buildings and on the Capitol grounds. As a result,
    the Capitol campus is safer today than ever, as evidenced by a 59
    percent reduction in hazards identified by the Office of Compliance
    since the 109th Congress. This is particularly significant because the
    amount of square footage of facilities that we maintain has
    dramatically increased over the same period of time. Between the 109th
    Congress and the 110th, the physical inventory that the AOC maintains
    was increased by 10 percent in additional square footage. During the
    111th Congress, another 3 percent was added.
        Moving forward, we will continue to partner with the Congress to
    execute life-safety projects in a planned manner that is fiscally
    responsible, efficient, and effective in order to further protect those
    who work in and visit the Capitol campus.
        Capitol-wide energy reduction efforts have yielded great results
    for the fifth year in a row. In fiscal year 2010, the Congress met the
    Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007) requirement of
    reducing energy consumption by 15 percent.
        To reduce reliance on direct appropriations, we are using privately
    financed public-private partnerships, known as Energy Savings
    Performance Contracts, to fund the project work that needs to be
    completed to conserve resources and reduce energy consumption. For
    example, in the Senate, we have begun construction on the following
    energy conservation projects:
      --installing 31,000 energy-efficient lighting fixtures in each of the
            Senate office buildings;
      --upgrading existing pneumatic and electronic controls for heating,
            ventilating, and air-conditioning systems with direct digital
            controls;
      --replacing existing transformers with high-efficiency transformers;
            and
      --installing removable insulation covers for steam valves to reduce
            heat loss.
        After implementation of all energy conservation measures over the
    36-month construction period, the Senate office buildings are estimated
    to potentially realize a 36 percent reduction in total energy
    consumption, and approximately $3.9 million in annual energy savings.
    We anticipate that this investment will save approximately 7 percent
    annually toward the EISA 2007 goal.

        In the House office buildings this past year, we installed 30,000
    energy-efficient light fixtures, and converted 2,700 bathroom fixtures
    to automatic, low-flow units. We have achieved a 23.3 percent reduction
    in water consumption in the House office buildings from fiscal year
    2009 to fiscal year 2010. In addition, approximately 1,250 bathroom
    fixtures were diverted from landfills and sent to a local asphalt plant
    for recycling. We also installed a new dimmable LED lighting technology
    in the Rayburn cafeteria. In a matter of months, energy consumption for
    lighting in the cafeteria was reduced by more than 70 percent.
        After implementation of all energy conservation measures over the
    30-month construction period, the House office buildings are estimated
    to potentially realize a 23 percent reduction in total energy
    consumption, and approximately $3.3 million in annual energy savings.
    We anticipate this investment will save approximately 5.4 percent
    annually toward the EISA 2007 goal.
        In the Capitol Building, the following projects are ongoing:
    upgrading existing light fixtures with high-efficiency lamps, ballasts,
    and reflectors; modernizing Building Automation Systems, including
    existing pneumatic and electronic controls for heating, ventilating,
    and air-conditioning systems with direct digital controls, and
    replacing air-handling systems.
        After implementation of all energy conservation measures over the
    27-month construction period, the Capitol Building is estimated to
    potentially realize a 38 percent reduction in total energy consumption,
    and approximately $2.2 million in annual energy savings. This will
    contribute an anticipated 5 percent annually toward the EISA 2007 goal.
        In addition, our employees are doing their part to help save energy
    by using the mass transit and flexible work schedule programs. More
    than 35 percent of AOC employees use public transportation to commute
    to work. In addition, more than 930 AOC employees participate in the
    flexible work schedule program, and more than 125 are enrolled in the
    AOC's Telework Program.
        Because the CPP plays a critical role in our long-term energy
    conservation strategy, we are continually working to improve and
    upgrade operations there. In December 2010, the CPP marked its 100th
    anniversary of steady service of steam and chilled water to heat and
    cool congressional buildings. In that century of service, the plant has
    undergone significant changes as new buildings were built, and modern
    equipment was installed. However, in order to continue to provide these
    services into the future, significant investment is needed to replace
    aging infrastructure and to install new, energy-efficient equipment.
        Last year, with the assistance of the National Academy of Science,
    we completed our Strategic Long-Term Energy Plan, which we are using to
    guide our future energy program planning, and to identify and explore
    options that will help realize continued energy efficiencies and
    opportunities to save money.
        After careful review of several technologies that can further
    improve efficiencies and help meet future energy requirements of the
    Capitol campus, we are planning to incorporate the use of cogeneration
    at the CPP to generate on-site power. Cogeneration is the use of a
    combustion turbine in order to generate both useful heat and
    electricity. It is anticipated that the equipment would generate enough
    electricity to operate the CPP, and the use of the heat generated from
    this operation would produce enough steam to reduce reliance on the
    existing boilers. This would increase system reliability and the
    increased efficiency would help save money. The proposed cogeneration
    system also would significantly reduce emissions while providing a
    reliable source of electricity to the CPP and steam for heating
    congressional facilities. We are proposing the use of a utility energy
    services contract to finance construction of the cogeneration plant.
    This public-private partnership leverages private funding allowing us
    to initiate design and execute construction in a timelier manner, and
    allows us to use limited appropriated funds for other priorities, such
    as deferred maintenance or life-safety projects.

                aoc deg.ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET REQUEST

        Our fiscal year 2012 annual operating budget request for $436.4
    million provides funding for continuing the critical activities of
    operating and maintaining the infrastructure which supports the
    Congress, other legislative branch agencies, and the public, as well as
    other AOC essential mission support services. This is a slight decrease
    from our fiscal year 2011 budget request. Some of these services
    include safety, human resources, financial management, project and
    construction management, planning and development, communications,
    information technology, and procurement. In our effort to further
    improve efficiencies and reduce costs, we are requesting funds to add
    internal controls software tools, and to update obsolete planning and
    project software.

        Through the work of our in-house, professional staff, we are able
    to address client needs on a daily basis, maintain facilities, and
    mitigate the amount of project funds required at the present time.
    However, even at this level of funding, the operating budget alone will
    not enable us to defer projects indefinitely. The longer we delay in
    addressing these issues, the more conditions will continue to worsen.
    Ignoring these issues will not make them go away. In fact, the problems
    will only become more serious and, in the end, cost more.
        Mr. Chairman, one of the many areas in which our employees excel is
    in the preservation of our heritage assets. We take great pride in
    maintaining and conserving the national treasures entrusted to our
    care, and last year our efforts were recognized with the 2010 Award for
    Outstanding Commitment to the Preservation and Care of Collections.
    Heritage Preservation and the American Institute for Conservation of
    Historic and Artistic Works presents the award to the organization that
    has been exemplary in the importance and priority it has given to
    conservation concerns, and in the sustained commitment it has shown to
    the preservation and care of cultural property. The AOC was recognized
    as ``a model of exemplary stewardship of the historic collections in
    its care.''

        It was a great honor to receive this award because it recognized
    the efforts of our talented and dedicated staff that work to preserve
    these irreplaceable treasures, serve the Congress, and welcome millions
    of visitors every year. They take great pride in what they do and they
    put their unique and special skills to work every day to ensure our
    U.S. Capitol continues to stand as a powerful and iconic symbol of our
    Government.

                      aoc deg.AOC ACCOMPLISHMENTS

        Receiving this award was one of many significant achievements the
    AOC recorded this past year. As I mentioned earlier, we have
    implemented comprehensive measures and metrics across the agency that
    have led to significant improvements. For example, we continued to
    improve our cost accounting procedures and internal controls, and
    received our sixth consecutive clean audit opinion from independent
    auditors on all of our financial statements. In addition, our annual
    building services customer satisfaction surveys for fiscal year 2010
    again showed that a large majority of our customers are satisfied or
    very satisfied with the level of service the AOC is providing them.

        Not only do we take care of our customers, we take care of our
    people. We are committed to being the best in our industry, and we have
    implemented several programs to recruit and retain the best talent. To
    further this goal, worker safety remains one of our top priorities, and
    we have successfully reduced our injury and illness rate by 75 percent
    since fiscal year 2000. We reduced the claims rate of 17.9 injuries per
    100 employees in fiscal year 2000, to fewer than 4 injuries per 100
    employees in fiscal year 2010.

        Our talented staff have completed a number of projects this past
    year in our efforts to maintain and preserve the historic assets
    entrusted to our care, including painting the Capitol dome as an
    interim step to protect and weatherproof the cast-iron structure;
    repairing and replacing the Thomas Jefferson Building's lantern windows
    and frames, as well as conserving the Blashfield mural, ``Human
    Understanding'', and installing a lift system to provide access to the
    House rostrum, and allowing, for the first time in the Chamber's
    history, a Representative in a wheelchair to preside over a House
    session.

        Our employees work tirelessly on the front lines to create a
    positive first impression of the Congress, the Capitol, and public
    stewardship. In 2010, the Capitol Visitor Center welcomed its 4
    millionth visitor. At the U.S. Botanic Garden, more than 1 million
    guests enjoyed its amenities and educational programs, including the
    annual orchid show.

                                   CONCLUSION

        Mr. Chairman, the AOC embodies a commitment to preserving and
    maintaining the historic fabric of our country, including the U.S.
    Capitol Building and its iconic dome that serves as a symbol of our
    country and our Government.
        Our fiscal year 2012 budget request reflects the seriousness with
    which we take this commitment. We understand the challenges that an
    austere fiscal environment presents, and we have developed this budget
    request in an effort to balance our stewardship responsibilities with
    fiscal responsibility.
        We have been successful in our mission due to the tireless work of
    our skilled craftsmen and professional staff who maintain and preserve
    our national treasures. Their efforts ensure that we continue to
    provide exceptional services to the Congress, and they have prevented
    catastrophic system and facility failures to date. The full measure of
    the dedication they display in their jobs may be difficult to measure,
    but we continuously reap the benefits of their knowledge, skills, and
    experience. I am very proud to lead this wonderful and dedicated team.
        We look forward to continuing to work with this subcommittee, the
    congressional leadership, and our oversight committees to address our
    mutual concerns for conserving the past while planning for the future
    of the Capitol and the facilities for the Congress and the American
    people.
        I would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Ms. Chrisler.

                              OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE

    STATEMENT OF TAMARA E. CHRISLER, ESQ., EXECUTIVE
                DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE

        Ms. Chrisler. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven.
        I'm honored to appear before you today on behalf of the
    OOC. As you know, the OOC is a small agency with a broad
    statutory mission established by the passage of the
    Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA). The OOC is
    required to carry out a Dispute Resolution Program (DRP) for
    employing offices and employees, inspect legislative branch
    facilities for compliance in safety and health and disability
    access laws, promulgate regulations for implementation of
    applicable laws under the CAA, and educate members of the
    covered community about their rights and responsibilities under
    the act. These are our mandates. This is the work you have
    asked us to do.
        With the continued support of this subcommittee, we have
    been able to do our work. You have allocated the resources
    necessary for us to complete required inspections, you have
    authorized needed personnel to manage our Safety and Health
    Program and to oversee the implementation of the settlement
    agreement to abate life-threatening hazards in the Capitol
    Power Plant (CPP) utility tunnels.
        Mr. Chairman, it was through your efforts on this
    subcommittee, and your membership on the Rules Committee, that
    a blue ribbon panel of architects and fire-safety experts was
    convened to provide an independent assessment of fire-safety
    issues in the Russell Senate Office Building.
        Indeed, it is this subcommittee's dedication to fire-safety
    issues that paved the way for the OOC and the Office of the AOC
    to engage in a cooperative effort to set abatement priorities
    among the fire- and life-safety hazards present in legislative
    branch facilities.
        Surely, the scheduling of the two agencies today to appear
    before you is reflective of the subcommittee's commitment to
    address these issues promptly and comprehensively. With the
    sustained support of this subcommittee, the OOC can continue to
    do the work that you've asked us to do.
        For fiscal year 2011, the OOC requested approximately
    $298,000 in additional funding to support several initiatives,
    two in particular: the development and implementation of the
    risk-based inspection, an abatement approach that the
    Conference Committee on fiscal year 2010 directed OOC to
    institute; and essential improvements to our anticipated and
    increasingly inefficient IT infrastructure.

             OOC deg.RISK-BASED APPROACH TO INVESTIGATIONS

        The first is the risk-based approach. This approach to
    inspections and abatement allows the OOC to target the riskiest
    workplaces and work activities, such as machine shops, high-
    voltage areas, and boiler rooms, where the risks are highest. A
    risk-based approach is resource-intensive because our staff
    will carefully examine written programs, observe employees
    while they work, and engage them in discussion to determine
    their understanding of safety programs. It's different than
    just conducting an inspection of a building. It takes more
    time, but it's cost effective and it makes sense. And it's what
    you've asked us to do.
        We'll focus our assistance on reducing the on-the-job
    injuries and illnesses, and remedy those violations that pose
    the more serious threats to worker safety, which, in the end,
    will save money, with fewer injuries and accidents, fewer
    illnesses, and less workers compensation.

                      OOC deg.NEED FOR INSPECTORS

        The OOC approached the 2012 appropriations cycle knowing
    that only minimal funding would be available. That being the
    case, we did not seek contract funding for a safety and health
    inspector, despite the facts that, one, we have fewer
    inspectors, one fewer inspector than in the past; two, the
    risk-based approach requires more time and expertise than
    inspections in the past; and three, we are facing roughly 18
    million square feet of legislative branch workspace to inspect
    this fiscal year and next.
        Our efforts to obtain a nonreimbursable detailee from the
    Department of Labor or another executive branch agency has
    failed, as fiscal and other constraints have prevented other
    agencies from supplying a detailee. As a result, the OOC will
    be unable to offer the same level of service as in prior years.
    We won't be able to inspect every workspace. Instead, we'll
    rely on employing offices to conduct self-inspections of
    certain lower-risk offices and administrative areas.

                     OOC deg.IMPACT OF BUDGET CUTS

        Should there be cuts below the current spending level of
    fiscal year 2010, the OOC will be forced to cut back on the
    services that you have mandated.
        Funding our DRP facilitates parties' ability to reach
    confidential settlements at an early stage of the process. A
    reduction in this funding might force us to reduce the number
    and duration of our contracts with mediators and hearing
    officers, which may impact the success of early resolution. For
    example, just last week, the OOC was able to provide additional
    mediation services to parties in a particular case. These
    additional services enabled the parties to reach an amicable
    settlement. A cut to these resources would mean less mediation
    time, thus diminishing the likelihood of favorable settlements.
    The result is protracted litigation involving depositions,
    testimony, pleadings, appeals, all of which are resource
    intensive and all of which put an unnecessary drain on taxpayer
    dollars.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        As I stated, the OOC is realistic about the available
    resources in fiscal year 2012. We understand the challenges
    faced by the Federal Government and, in particular, this
    subcommittee. We recognize the need to present a bare-bones
    appropriations request, so we've done just that. What that
    leaves us with, however, with is reduced services. Our work is
    vital to the Congress. We administer basic fundamental rights.
    With the requested funding, we can ensure that these
    protections continue to be administered.
        I thank you for your time, and am happy to answer any
    questions you have.
        [The statement follows:]

                    Prepared Statement of Tamara E. Chrisler

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and distinguished members of the
    subcommittee, I am honored to appear before you today on behalf of the
    Office of Compliance (OOC). Joining me today are General Counsel Peter
    Ames Eveleth; Deputy Executive Director Barbara J. Sapin; Deputy
    Executive Director John P. Isa; and Budget and Finance Officer Allan
    Holland. Collectively, we present to you the OOC's request for
    appropriations for fiscal year 2012, and we seek your support for our
    request.
        For fiscal year 2012, the agency is requesting a total of
    $4,782,000, a $106,509 or 2.28 percent increase over the agency's
    fiscal year 2011 requested appropriations level of $4,675,491, and an
    increase of $405,001 or 9.25 percent increase from the fiscal year 2010
    enacted appropriations level of $4,377,000. This funding would provide
    the OOC with the resources necessary to continue the most critical
    services that are required by the Congressional Accountability Act of
    1995 (CAA). As discussed below, however, even with the requested
    funding, certain mandatory services will be beyond our means. The
    minimal increase for fiscal year 2012 includes funding for increased
    costs of administrative services from the Library of Congress (LOC) and
    funding for basic operations to perform our core programs:
      --administrative dispute resolution services, safety and health and
            disability access inspections; and
      --education and outreach services, all of which are mandated by the
            CAA.
        The OOC is a small agency with a broad statutory mission.
    Established by the passage of the CAA, this agency was created by the
    Congress to administer the workplace rights laws, safety and health
    laws, and public accessibility laws that applied to the private sector
    and, in the case of some laws, to the rest of the Federal Government.
    The CAA requires that the OOC carry out a dispute resolution program
    (DRP) for employing offices and employees; inspect legislative branch
    facilities for compliance with safety and health and disability access
    laws; promulgate regulations for implementation of applicable laws
    under the CAA; and educate members of the covered community about their
    rights and responsibilities under the act. These are our mandates; this
    is the work you have asked us to do.
        Over the years, this subcommittee has demonstrated a real
    appreciation for the work performed by the OOC. In particular, this
    subcommittee has shown strong support for our safety and health program
    by allocating the resources necessary for us to complete the required
    inspections of legislative branch workplaces. Further, the subcommittee
    has authorized needed personnel to manage our safety and health program
    and to oversee the implementation of the settlement agreement that is
    abating the life-threatening hazards in the Capitol Power Plant (CPP)
    utility tunnels. Mr. Chairman, it was through your efforts on this
    subcommittee and your work on the Rules Committee that a Blue Ribbon
    Panel of architects and fire-safety experts was convened to provide an
    independent assessment of fire-safety issues in the Russell Senate
    Office Building. Indeed, it is this subcommittee's dedication to fire-
    safety issues that paved the way for the OOC and the AOC to engage in a
    cooperative effort to set abatement priorities among the fire- and
    life-safety hazards present in legislative branch facilities. Surely,
    the scheduling of the two agencies to appear before you today is
    reflective of the subcommittee's commitment to address these issues
    promptly and comprehensively.
        With the sustained support of this subcommittee, the OOC has been
    able to ensure that legislative branch workplaces are subject to the
    same laws applicable to workplaces in the private sector and other
    Federal agencies. Our fiscal year 2012 requested increase is minimal:
    $106,509, almost half of which is attributable to the LOC increased
    charge for administrative services it provides to this agency. The
    remainder of the increase reflects additional costs due to inflation
    and for minimal operational costs. We have essentially presented you
    with a flat budget for fiscal year 2012.

     ooc deg.WHAT WE CAN DO WITH FISCAL YEAR 2011 AND FISCAL YEAR
                                  2012 FUNDING

        In fiscal year 2011, the OOC requested an additional $298,491 in
    funding to support several initiatives:
      --the development and implementation of the risk-based inspection and
            abatement approach that the Conference Committee on fiscal year
            2010 legislative branch appropriations directed the OOC to
            institute;
      --essential improvements to our antiquated and increasingly
            inefficient IT infrastructure; and
      --the salary increase required by Federal law.
        For the fiscal year 2011 appropriations cycle, staff of the OOC
    examined our programs in conjunction with our statutory mandates and
    made significant efforts to streamline our appropriations request to
    reflect the country's and the Government's economic difficulties. As a
    result, we presented an appropriations request that contained only
    those items necessary to meet the most fundamental of our statutory
    mandates.
        Fiscal year 2012 funding at the requested level (inclusive of
    fiscal year 2011 requested funding) will allow the OOC to employ the
    risk-based biennial inspection and abatement approach contemplated in
    the fiscal year 2011 budget request. This risk-based approach is
    resource-intensive for our agency, but should result in cost savings
    across other agencies in the legislative branch. This approach allows
    the OOC to target the riskiest workplaces and work activities, such as
    machine shops, high-voltage areas, and boiler rooms. We would
    concentrate our limited resources on areas where the risks are highest
    (the CPP and hazardous chemical storage rooms, for example); focus the
    technical assistance we provide on reducing on-the-job injuries and
    illnesses; and remedy those violations that pose the most serious
    threats to workers' safety. Of course, cooperation with the AOC's
    staff, as well as with other employing offices, is an integral part of
    the development and implementation of this approach. Working with the
    employing offices, our inspectors would carefully review and assist in
    the development of written safety programs that protect employees who
    work with certain hazardous materials. Our staff will observe employees
    while they work to determine their understanding of safety programs
    designed to protect against injuries. A careful examination of fire
    prevention programs is essential in the many Capitol Hill facilities
    that have serious life-safety deficiencies.
        This subcommittee's support of the OOC's requested appropriations
    for fiscal year 2011 and fiscal year 2012 will allow the OOC to
    continue to work with high-quality mediators and hearing officers. One
    of the OOC's core statutory functions is to provide confidential and
    timely counseling, mediation, and hearing services to assist employees
    and employing offices in resolving workplace rights claims, such as
    discrimination and harassment. Supplying the parties with highly
    skilled mediators and hearing officers allows the OOC to equip the
    parties with the tools necessary to reach amicable agreement and to
    fairly resolve and adjudicate claims.
        In addition, fiscal year 2012 funding at the requested level
    (inclusive of fiscal year 2011 requested funding) will allow the OOC to
    update its out-of-date communications and IT systems to improve
    efficiency and enhance the security of vital information. The OOC's IT
    systems are the warehouse for workplace rights claims filed against
    Members of Congress. Accordingly, it is essential that these systems
    use the best security measures available to protect your confidential
    information. The OOC has already begun collaborative efforts with the
    LOC to share services and develop OOC IT systems that maintain the
    confidentiality of this information and meet the highest of security
    standards.

         ooc deg.WHAT WE CANNOT DO EVEN WITH WHAT WE REQUESTED

        Our fiscal year 2012 request is basically flat. We approached
    fiscal year 2012 knowing that only minimal funding essential to meet
    the bare requirements of our mission would be available. That being the
    case, we did not seek contract funding for a safety and health
    inspector despite the fact that we have one fewer inspector than in the
    past. In our fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2011 budget requests, we
    noted our need for such an inspector, but indicated our intention to
    fill the need by obtaining a nonreimbursable detailee from the
    Department of Labor or other executive branch agency. Fiscal and other
    constraints have prevented other agencies from supplying such a
    detailee, and we have been advised that no detailee will be available
    in the foreseeable future. The need remains, however: the risk-based
    approach requires more time and expertise than the inspections of the
    past. At the same time, we are facing roughly 1 million additional
    square feet of legislative branch work space (to add to the existing 17
    million square feet) that is expected in fiscal year 2011 and 2012. As
    a consequence, our agency will be unable to offer all the services
    described above at the same level as in prior years. Some services may
    be reduced, while others may need to be discontinued altogether. In
    particular, the tradeoff is that we will not be able to inspect every
    workplace; instead, we will rely on employing offices to self-inspect
    certain lower-risk offices and administrative spaces. While we intend
    to inspect high-hazard workspaces, our ability to inspect all such
    areas is likely to be limited as well.

          ooc deg.WHAT HAPPENS WITH CUTS BELOW CURRENT LEVELS

        Should there be cuts below the current spending level of fiscal
    year 2010, the OOC will be forced to cut other services, as well as
    associated resources. As a statutorily mandated service agency, our
    business is largely driven by requests to our office--requests for
    information, requests for counseling, requests for mediation, requests
    for technical assistance, requests for inspection. Given that our
    agency's visibility has increased over the years, we are currently
    receiving more requests than we have in the past, from employees and
    employing offices alike. Consequently, any gap between our resources
    and our work will be immediately apparent to the covered community.
        The OOC's staff remains small. There are no overlapping functions.
    Thus, reductions to our resources could require us to eliminate not
    only positions, but entire programs as well. Should our resources be
    reduced below current levels, we will be faced with cutting back the
    services that you have mandated, and the delivery of remaining services
    may suffer.
        Specifically, as mentioned above, the OOC will struggle to meet our
    safety and health mandate even if our request is fully funded. Further
    reductions will mean fewer electrical shops inspected, less time
    observing workers' use of hazardous chemicals and reduced reviews of
    fire prevention programs in buildings with deficient emergency exits.
    The result would likely be more workplace injuries and illnesses, which
    in turn require higher workers' compensation costs, more overtime hours
    and reduced productivity--all on top of the pain and suffering
    experienced by the injured employee. Further cuts would thus be both
    painful and counterproductive.
        Additional reductions would likely force us to reduce or even
    terminate our disability access activities. We are obligated to ensure
    that members of the public do not confront barriers when seeking access
    to their elected representatives. With full funding, we will survey the
    routes between public transportation and congressional buildings to
    ensure that they are barrier-free. Any cuts below present levels may
    require us to discontinue this effort.
        In addition, funding for our DRP facilitates parties' ability to
    reach confidential settlements at an early stage of the process. A
    reduction in funding might force us to reduce the number and duration
    of our contracts with mediators and hearing officers. These resources
    are vital to the success of early resolution efforts. In fact, just
    last week, the OOC was able to provide additional mediation services
    for the parties to a particular dispute. These additional services
    enabled the parties to reach an amicable settlement. A cut to these
    resources would mean less mediation time, thus diminishing the
    likelihood of favorable settlements. The result is protracted
    litigation--involving depositions, testimony, pleadings, appeals--all
    of which are resource-intensive, and all of which put an unnecessary
    drain on taxpayer dollars.

                                   CONCLUSION

        As stated above, the OOC is realistic about the available resources
    in fiscal year 2012. We understand the challenges faced by the Federal
    Government, and this subcommittee in particular. We recognize the need
    to present a bare-bones appropriations request; so we have done just
    that. What that leaves us with, however, is reduced services. The OOC's
    work is integral to the safety and health of each and every employee of
    the legislative branch; it is essential to the fair workplace that the
    Congress provides; and it is needed by people with disabilities who,
    like all other citizens, deserve access to their elected officials. Our
    work is vital to the work of the Congress: we administer basic,
    fundamental rights for individuals, and we do so because you have
    determined that you want these protections. With the requested funding,
    we can ensure that these protections continue to be administered.
        On behalf of the Board of Directors and the entire staff of the
    Office of Compliance, I thank you for your support of this agency. I
    would be pleased to answer any questions.

                    AOC deg.BUDGET CUTS AND IMPACT

        Senator Nelson. Thank you. Thanks, to both of you.
        If it's okay, maybe we can do about a 5-minute round of
    questions, here.
        First of all, as it relates to the AOC, your fiscal year
    2012 budget totals $706 million, which, as I said, is an
    increase of $104 million, or 17 percent. It's not exactly the
    right direction, but as you explained it might have been even
    more if you had been unrestrained in how you could approach
    this.
        What would be the impact of an actual cut of 5 percent or 6
    percent or 7 percent to the current budget, without any
    increase, but a cut? And give us some idea of what you would
    have to defer, what you would have to put aside, and what you
    would have to reduce in overhead expenditures.
        Senator Nelson. You can it to give us, generally; and then
    for the record, you can do it--to lay it out in more detail.
    But, just for the moment, give us some idea of what that impact
    would be.
        Mr. Ayers. Absolutely. Mr. Chairman, the overarching theme
    would be--we have two large portions of money in our budget.
    One is our operations and maintenance budget and the second
    part is our capital improvements or line-item construction
    project budget. And on that line-item construction project
    portion, we have a really good prioritization process that
    presents to the subcommittee a list of the projects that need
    to be done, that are in priority order. We do that as a tool to
    help the subcommittee, and us, work collectively to make
    adjustments to that.
        So, typically what we would do is move the funding line
    from where we've recommended it up to wherever that budget cut
    needs to be. So, in essence, the first thing that would happen
    is many of the projects and capital improvements that we have
    identified in our budget would be cut. So, that would then
    increase our backlog of deferred maintenance and capital
    renewal work; the condition of our facilities would deteriorate
    and worsen. As I know you know, those projects that ultimately
    need to be done and will cost a little more later.
        On the operational side, we would work to find areas where
    we can be more efficient. We would work to find areas where we
    can cut services. We would work across the legislative branch
    to see where there are any areas of duplication which we can
    eliminate to begin to work to reduce the operational side.
        Senator Nelson. It was noticed that the increase in your
    operation budgets has been 47 percent over the past 6 years.
    That's why I raise the question of what would be the impact on
    your operations. I understand the capital accounts would be--
    for construction improvements--would--could be deferred, but
    what about the operational--the growth in operational expenses
    over that period of time of 6 years? You're only accountable
    for part of that, but maybe you can explain that.
        Mr. Ayers. Well, I think much of that increase in growth
    comes from new mission requirements. A great example of that is
    opening the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), 2 years ago, where we
    have approximately 250 employees there in the CVC. So, that
    represents probably the biggest increment of that operational
    growth in those salaries that you see on the operations side of
    our budget.
        Senator Nelson. That's what I was hoping you would point
    out.
        Now, this is one of those smaller items, but I don't know
    what the impact would be. I note that you recently updated your
    Web site and logo; and so, I'm assuming that that results in
    all kinds of other changes to literature, printing
    requirements, and so forth. In the decision to do that, did you
    consider what the cost would be, versus the necessity to incur
    the costs at this challenging budget time?
        Mr. Ayers. We did. And that was one of the important tenets
    that we used to make that decision. What we've done is
    eliminate the need for stationery. We created a logo that's
    computer printer friendly. We since we've changed that logo, we
    no longer purchase preprinted stationery. Our logo is all
    generated--and our memoranda are all generated from our
    computer system. So, we think, ultimately, in the end, that
    will save money.
        In addition, our approach with our staff has been, ``Use
    all existing resources. Don't throw anything away. Use
    everything you have before you switch to using these new
    products.''
        Senator Nelson. That's all I have, for the moment.
        Senator Hoeven.
        Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

                AOC deg.PROJECT PRIORITIZATION PROCESS

        This is a question I would address to each of you. Just
    putting in context I anticipate our resource base being for the
    balance of this cycle, and then going into 2012. Right now, if
    you look at the legislation that the House has passed, they're
    at a total of about $60 to $61 billion below the current
    spending level, which is the fiscal year 2010 spending level.
    That's the spending level we're at now. So, that's one number
    that's out there.
        On the Senate side, the majority in the Senate has said,
    ``Well, more in line, or in keeping with the administration
    budget, we should hold funding about at the current spending
    level.'' So, if you take those two as ends of the spectrum, and
    then there's certainly the possibility that we could end up at
    one of those, or somewhere in between. In that context, what
    I'd like you to do is talk in terms of these budgets, rather
    than--in both cases, you've submitted budgets with increases;
    and, in the case of the AOC, I think it's 6.5 percent increase
    from the fiscal year 2011, and I think it's around 9.5 or 9.6
    percent in the case of the OOC.
        So, I think, in terms of a level budget to a budget where
    you could be looking at up to a 10 percent reduction, or in
    that range, prioritize for me how you would work to get to that
    level, and then even with a reduction. Talk about that
    prioritization in terms of operating budget and people, and
    then also your project budget.
        Mr. Ayers, maybe you'd like to start.
        Mr. Ayers. I'd be happy to. First, I haven't had the
    opportunity to explain the project prioritization process
    before, Mr. Hoeven. So, I'd like to take a minute to do that.
        It really is a good process that we've worked really hard,
    over a number of years, to put together. First, it takes every
    capital project that comes to us, from ourselves or our
    customers or our consultants or whomever it is, and puts it
    through a process where we evaluate it and give it a numeric
    score with a set of predetermined criteria on mission,
    economics, energy, regulatory compliance, security, and
    historic preservation. We evaluate the whole project and give
    all of those elements a numeric score. Then we also determine
    whether it's an immediate requirement or of immediate urgency,
    or high or medium or low. Then, last, we categorize that
    project as either deferred maintenance through the spectrum to
    capital construction; deferred maintenance being something
    that's broken that needs to be fixed. Capitol construction, on
    the other end of the spectrum, is something that's new
    construction.
        So, then our algorithm prioritizes these hundreds of
    projects that come in to us, and ultimately delivers what you
    see in our budget request: a list of prioritized projects where
    you literally can move the line from the bottom of the list up
    and still have confidence that what remains are the highest-
    priority projects for us to execute.
        So, that would be the first thing we'd do. We would use
    that tool and move that line up to where that reduction needs
    to be.
        And similarly, we would go through our operational budget
    with the same kind of tenacity to make reductions across the
    board in all of our operating budgets and our overhead rates
    and our lease rates and, you name it, to get to that objective.

    AOC deg.ADDRESSING DEFERRED PROJECTS WITHIN BUDGET CONSTRAINTS

        Senator Hoeven. Well, I'm still obviously new to this
    process, but I expect, at some point, we're going to have a
    number that we're going to have to achieve. So, I want to
    commend you--and I may have to come back, in my next 5 minutes,
    to you, Ms. Chrisler--and certainly want to do that.
        I have that prioritization right in front of me, both for
    construction projects and for deferred. I think that's an
    excellent way to do it. And I think you went right where I kind
    of thought you might, and rightly so. Because, at some point,
    that is probably how we're going to have to do this. We're
    going to have to work through these projects and do as many as
    we can within the constraint that we're given, and then balance
    that with--going back to that operating line and having you
    talk about--and working with our analysts, saying, ``Okay, what
    do we do there?'' In other words, in a sense, you've almost and
    rightly so--prepared yourself, on the project side, both for
    new projects and for deferred. And I commend you for that.
        But, we're going to have to mix that in with the operating
    side, and take a hard look there. And I know, when you're
    talking about with people it's tougher, always. So, you know,
    we really need to work with you on that piece. Also, in terms
    of how we marry up the deferred versus the new projects. And,
    of course, that's going to be a function of what, in your
    expert judgment and those of your people, which deferred items
    absolutely need to be done.
        I know sometimes it comes down to it would be cheaper and
    better to do it new and--you know, if you had the dollars, that
    is perhaps the most cost-effective way to go. But, in some of
    these cases, we may have to go to the deferred maintenance to
    keep it going for another 5 years or 7 years, versus perhaps
    what we'd like to do otherwise.
        So, I think you've got a good start here, and I think
    that's the direction I would try to work with you in terms of
    probably setting up these different scenarios so we're prepared
    for the number that we're ultimately going to get, in terms of
    the budget we have to achieve.
        And, Ms. Chrisler, in my next 5 minutes, I'd love to come
    and kind of go through some of the same things with you.
        Ms. Chrisler. Thank you.
        Senator Hoeven. Yes.

                       AOC deg.BLUE RIBBON PANEL

        Senator Nelson. Well, Ms. Chrisler, you mentioned the blue
    ribbon panel that met. Could you give us what their
    recommendations were, or what their conclusions were, with
    respect to, first, the Russell Senate Office Building stairs.
    That was an issue that we spent time on last year. It still
    raises questions about how you deal with life-safety issues in
    connection with historic buildings. So, maybe you can give us
    what you've taken from their report, their recommendations.
        Ms. Chrisler. The blue ribbon panel has submitted its final
    report. I know the Rules Committee is waiting to receive that
    report. Our office has taken a look at it and has prepared a
    response that we would be happy to provide for the record. We
    would also be happy to provide that to the Rules Committee once
    they have received the final report.
        There are a number of recommendations that the panel made
    with respect to different options. And, so that I don't
    misquote those----
        Senator Nelson. Sure enough.
        Ms. Chrisler [continuing]. Recommendations, I'd be happy to
    provide them for the record.
        [The information follows:]

        Under the life-safety code, buildings on Capitol Hill must provide
    protected exit routes so that their occupants will be able to safely
    leave the buildings during an emergency evacuation without being
    exposed to fire, smoke, or toxic gasses. Because the Russell House
    Office Building (RHOB) does not have enclosed stairwells or other
    protected escape route, the General Counsel of the Office of Compliance
    (OOC) issued a citation (Citation 19) in 2000 to require that this
    life-threatening hazard be abated. In 2008, the Architect of the
    Capitol (AOC) developed a plan to abate this hazard (known as the
    Senate Alternative Life Safety Approach or SALSA) that was subsequently
    approved by the OOC general counsel. The SALSA plan was designed to
    provide an alternative to enclosing monumental stairways within the
    RHOB. It proposed to create separate ``fire zones'' within the building
    that would both contain the fire and provide protected areas within the
    building and would enable occupants to either completely exit the
    building or be sheltered in place, free from exposure to fire, smoke,
    and toxic gases. This compartmentalization would be accomplished by
    installing fire-rated doors mounted flush with corridor walls that
    would be closed automatically upon activation of fire alarms.
    Thereafter, at the request of the Senate Committee on Rules and
    Administration, the AOC established a Blue Ribbon Panel (Panel) of
    experts to address concerns about the effect the SALSA plan might have
    on the historic fabric of the RHOB.
        In its final report, dated August 23, 2010, the Panel assessed both
    fire-safety and historic-preservation concerns. As the Panel found, the
    hazards in the RHOB include unprotected exit pathways, insufficient
    emergency exit capacity, and excessive exit travel distances in
    contravention of life-safety code requirements. It concluded that fire-
    safety hazards in the RHOB could be rectified ``in a manner that is
    consistent with historic preservation goals.'' The Panel considered
    three design options, along with the AOC's SALSA plan, to address the
    deficiencies and proposed nine ``general recommendations'' to be
    implemented in addition to whichever design option was selected. The
    general recommendations are divided into immediate, short-term, and
    long-term recommendations. The immediate recommendations involve attic
    improvements (removal of stored combustible materials or installation
    of automatic sprinkler protection along with smoke barriers and
    compartmentalization), basement workshop and storage improvements
    (removal of the furniture refinishing workshop, enclosing other
    workshops with 1-hour fire separation and removal of combustible
    materials in the basement corridor), and inspections (develop and
    implement an annual inspection program focusing on fire prevention best
    practices). As to these items, the Panel concluded that they ``will
    have a significant impact on the level of fire safety in the buildings
    and are envisioned as viable, discreet, and relatively easy to
    accomplish. These improvements should be undertaken as soon as
    possible.''
        The short-term recommendations involve providing smoke control in
    the atrium and providing a remote means of egress for all assembly
    spaces with occupant loads exceeding 50 persons. The long-term
    recommendations include adding protective materials to the attic roof
    structure, modifying, or replacing the HVAC systems to eliminate air-
    transfer openings, providing fire stopping for or replacing utility
    shafts and floor openings, and removing the combustible courtyard
    structure.
        The Panel evaluated SALSA and the three design options by
    considering the historic preservation goals as well as nine life-safety
    objectives:
      --maintaining structural integrity during a fire;
      --separating hazardous areas from the remainder of the building;
      --restricting smoke movement from rooms to the exit corridors and to
            other areas of the building;
      --providing protected occupant egress paths;
      --restricting vertical smoke movement in the Atrium;
      --restricting vertical smoke movement throughout the building;
      --providing adequate egress capacity;
      --limiting exit travel distances; and
      --creating contiguous protected exit paths.
        While the Panel acknowledged that SALSA together with the general
    recommendations would meet these nine safety objectives, the Panel
    dismissed this as an option because it failed to meet historic
    preservation goals.
        The Panel did not evaluate option 1 in detail. It provides for an
    extended automatic sprinkler system for fire and smoke control,
    improvements that already are underway. Option 2 would meet both the
    historic preservation goals and the life-safety objectives because, in
    addition to extending sprinklers and smoke detectors, it provides for
    compartmentalization of the RHOB into separate fire zones. This is
    accomplished by installing fire-rated pocket doors within the walls
    that are activated only in the event of a fire thereby preventing the
    spread of fire and toxic gasses while creating protected areas for
    occupants to escape safely from the building. Option 3 would also meet
    the historic preservation goals and life-safety objectives through the
    use of a smoke control system, perhaps in conjunction with
    compartmentalization, to limit the amount and extent of fire spread in
    the building. However, the Panel cautioned that the feasibility and
    potential benefit of this approach have not been evaluated and would
    require further technical investigation and computational fire and
    egress modeling.
        In sum, design option 2 and the AOC's SALSA plan, together with the
    general recommendations, address all of the life-safety objectives that
    the Panel identified. Design option 3 requires further study and may be
    neither technologically nor economically feasible. Design option 1,
    which the Panel found provided the least potential for risk reduction,
    addresses none of the identified life-safety objectives.
        The OOC has concluded:
      --In addition to whichever design option is selected, each of the
            general recommendations developed by the Panel for improving
            the level of fire safety should be implemented on an immediate,
            short-term, and long-term basis as soon as practicable.
      --Design option 1, unlike the other options, does not create separate
            fire zones in order to compartmentalize and therefore limit the
            area of smoke and fire spread. Hence, it would neither prevent
            the spread of fire, smoke, and toxic gases throughout the RHOB
            nor address the building's lack of exit capacity or excessive
            travel distances. Hence, it would not abate citation 19.
            Consequently, the OOC cannot support this option as currently
            proposed. Vertical compartments reduce the number of occupants
            exposed to the effects of a fire, allow the occupants to egress
            horizontally (an essential feature for those who are physically
            unable to use stairs), reduce exit travel distances, increase
            available egress capacity, and create areas of safety to
            protect occupants from the effects of a fire in an adjacent
            compartment. That said, we assume that the AOC will continue to
            extend automatic sprinkler protection and upgrade the fire
            detection and alarm system to provide area smoke detection
            throughout the building as contemplated by option 1.
      --Design option 2, if implemented with the general recommendations,
            would abate citation 19. Options 2a, 2b, 2c and SALSA, in
            conjunction with the general recommendations, all are
            sufficient to establish a reasonable level of fire protection
            within the RHOB. Unlike the cross-corridor solid doors in the
            SALSA plan that would remain open except in an emergency, all
            variations of option 2 involve installation of concealed cross-
            corridor accordion (Won Door) partitions. The three variations
            of option 2 differ in cost, extent of compartmentalization
            within the building, the degree of building intervention, and
            level of fire protection.
      --Design option 3 requires extensive further study and computer-
            generated smoke modeling to determine its feasibility and
            benefit. Accordingly, without such information, the OOC is
            unable to opine on the merits of this option at this time.
        Thus, we agree in major part with the Panel's findings respecting
    fire and life-safety conditions as well as the measures necessary to
    achieve an acceptable level of fire safety.
        The Panel's final report also contained a legal analysis of the
    OOC's citation authority. We agree with parts of this analysis and
    strongly disagree with other parts. We agree to the extent it
    recognizes that the OOC has clear authority to issue citations for
    alleged violations of the Congressional Accountability Act (CAA), that
    the OOC's issuance of a citation for these types of hazards is
    consistent with Occupational Safety and Health Administration's
    practices regarding similar historic buildings, and that these hazards
    can reasonably be viewed as a violation of section 5 of the
    Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHAct). However, we do
    take strong issue with the report respecting two significant matters as
    to which we believe it is in substantial error. First, it questions the
    authority of this office to require compliance with the safety and
    health standards promulgated by the Secretary of Labor under the OSHAct
    absent adoption by OOC of regulations incorporating those standards and
    approval of those regulations by the Congress. The analysis disregards
    the plain language of the CAA requiring employing offices to comply
    with the standards. In so doing, it ignores the well-recognized
    distinction between ``standards'' and ``regulations''. Only the OOC
    promulgated regulations that implement standards, unlike the standards
    themselves, require congressional approval. The legislative history of
    the CAA supports this interpretation of the CAA. Second, the analysis
    errs by challenging the exclusive authority of the general counsel of
    the OOC to make compliance decisions and to enforce its citations.
    Again, the CAA makes plain that this enforcement authority lies
    exclusively with the general counsel of the OOC.

        Senator Nelson. Sure. We'd like them for the record. But,
    can you give us, generally, some idea of whether--and maybe
    this is a better question for Mr. Ayers, as an architect--are
    they consistent with architectural integrity? Because that was
    one of our concerns. Obviously, we want things to be safe. But,
    we don't want to destroy the architectural integrity. Were the
    recommendations, do you think, consistent with that?
        Mr. Ayers. I think so, Mr. Chairman. The group did go out
    and look at a number of other historic buildings, both locally
    and in other cities, and determined that other buildings in
    other jurisdictions have implemented the kind of controls we're
    looking to implement, as well. And many jurisdictions have
    decided to implement them, and some have decided, ``We're not
    going to implement them.'' I think the blue ribbon panel gave
    us a series of recommendations that go from ``do nothing,'' was
    one of their recommendations, through sort of a sliding scale
    of implementing full building smoke compartmentation throughout
    the building. I think, ultimately, the answer will be somewhere
    in between.
        Senator Nelson. Okay. Thank you.

                     AOC deg.CAPITOL DOME PROJECT

        For the Capitol dome project, last year you requested, we
    had included, in our fiscal year 2011 bill, $20 million for
    repairs to the Capitol dome; and because of the continuing
    resolution, the funding has not been made available. Can we
    still begin the project, given the timeframe of the 2013
    Inaugural? I think that was one of the time points that was
    important. Or, will we have all kinds of construction going on
    in the Capitol dome at the time of the Inaugural?
        Mr. Ayers. We certainly cannot let that happen, Mr.
    Chairman----
        Senator Nelson. Right, exactly.
        Mr. Ayers [continuing]. And rest assured, we won't.
        Senator Nelson. All right.
        Mr. Ayers. We've looked at that, and we think we can still
    implement that project up until June of this year. If we don't
    receive that money prior to June, we think it's best to
    postpone it until after the 2013 Inaugural. It's about a year-
    and-a-half in construction. So we're comfortable with June of
    this year.
        Senator Nelson. Okay. And if we do put it off--obviously,
    deferred maintenance has its challenges--does it create any
    more extraordinary issues, in terms of life safety or
    deterioration of the dome?
        Mr. Ayers. I wouldn't characterize it as extraordinary, no.
    Waiting from 2011 until 2013 would not be extraordinary, in my
    mind, but deterioration will increase.
        Senator Nelson. But, we are going to have to do it----
        Mr. Ayers. Yes. It is of immediate urgency.
        Senator Nelson [continuing]. As I understand it.
        Mr. Ayers. Yes, sir.

             AOC deg.UTILITY TUNNEL REPAIRS--RADIO PROJECT

        Senator Nelson. On the utility tunnel repairs, you
    requested $17.4 million. Are you on schedule to complete the
    repairs in 2012, recognizing we're still dealing with
    continuing resolutions?
        Mr. Ayers. Yes, Mr. Chairman. We are on schedule. We're
    very confident we will complete that required work by June
    2012.
        Senator Nelson. And I know you also have some
    responsibilities for the Capitol Police (USCP) radio project,
    the facilities portion. Can you give us a bit of an update on
    your work with the USCP radio modernization effort, recognizing
    how important it is for that to function the way we want it to
    function for Capitol Hill's security?
        Mr. Ayers. I'd be happy to. That is a very important
    project. We have four overarching responsibilities as part of
    our work on that project. One is the design and construction of
    the primary site. The second is the design and construction of
    the mirror site, or the backup site. Third, is the creation of
    pathways and conduits for the antenna, to be run throughout all
    of the office buildings here on campus. And then, the last part
    of that is coordinating throughout the District of Columbia,
    finding places and antenna towers to lease antenna space and
    get utilities to that space.
        So, on the primary site, we are nearly finished with that.
    I think we're about 95 percent complete with construction. On
    the mirror site, we've just awarded the construction contract.
    We'll be finished with that by July or August of this year, so
    both of those are within schedule. The antenna infrastructure
    within the buildings is proceeding well and on schedule. We've
    completed a number of buildings, like--the CPP and the USCP
    headquarters, among others, are complete, and others are in
    progress. And we're comfortable with the schedule there. And
    then, finally, the leasing of antenna sites throughout the
    city; we are just now getting started on that process,
    identifying the sites and working with the radio manufacturer
    or, radio designer, U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, to study
    the interference between their system and other antennas that
    are on the sites that we've outlined.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you. I know Senator Hoeven will be
    interested in the radio project, given that when 9/11 occurred,
    it was clear that our radio facilities were totally inadequate
    to deal with the communications required on Capitol Hill,
    perhaps just in ordinary circumstances, let alone the emergency
    that we experienced. So, when Sergeant at Arms Gainer and Chief
    Morse are here, we'll probably go into that a little bit more.
        Thank you.

                    AOC deg.REDUCING COSTS/SERVICES

        Senator Hoeven. Well, I'm not too surprised to hear that. I
    think there were a lot of places around the country--found out
    on 9/11 that, in terms of their radio systems and
    interoperability that they had some challenges. So, I'm not too
    surprised to hear that.
        Ms. Chrisler, maybe you could comment a little bit on some
    of those level to a reduction in funding. How--and I know
    you're certainly personnel-intensive, in terms of what you do--
    how would you approach that?
        Ms. Chrisler. Thank you for the question. And it's
    something that we've thought about.
        As you mentioned, our agency is heavily personnel- and
    resource-reliant, with respect to our infrastructure. The other
    side of that same coin is that the work that we have is largely
    controlled by the congressional population, with respect to our
    DRP. We have counseling services, mediation services, hearing
    services, and administrative dispute resolution services that
    we offer to employees and employing offices when they need
    them. So, they come to us when they need us. So, it's not as if
    it's a cost or an amount of work that we can control. If, by
    some instance, 100 employees come to our office in a given
    month, requesting our services, we're mandated to provide those
    services. So, in some respects, the costs that we incur are not
    within our control.
        Even with that in mind, there are things that we've thought
    about. There are things that we have done to reduce the cost of
    our services. We've engaged in interagency agreements with
    executive branch agencies and other agencies to reduce the cost
    of our mediation and our hearing services. We have
    contemplated, and have tried to organize, teleconferences for--
    we have a five-member board of directors, who are experts in
    the substantive areas of our office and live across the
    country. They convene in Washington, DC, periodically, for
    meetings. We try to cut those meetings down and hold them
    telephonically so that we can save costs. So, the cost-cutting
    efforts that we've made continue.
        Looking forward at a reduction in our funding means that we
    will have to reduce--prior to reducing services, we'll have to
    look at a different way to do business. Perhaps, the additional
    mediation services that we offer employees, we won't--and
    employing offices--we won't be able to offer. We may have to
    limit the rounds of mediation. We may have to limit our
    services in other respects. So, not eliminating the services,
    because it's a--it's a mandate of the statute, but reducing the
    duration of the contracts, reducing the number of contracts,
    renegotiating our contracts with other entities, is something
    that we've looked at, as well. That's the services.
        The other side of that is that we have staffing that would
    more than likely need to be reduced. Within our Safety and
    Health Program, we have inspectors. We're short one inspector
    now, so we're--with additional cuts, we would be looking at
    additional shortages, which is difficult to conduct the work
    that we are mandated by the statute to do, and in a--in a cost-
    effective way. The risk-based approach to inspections and
    abatement is the smart way to do things. But, it is resource-
    intensive. So, looking at where we're going to save money. Are
    you going to save money on the front part? Or, are we going to
    save money on the back part? And the back part is where the
    money--the real savings comes in, because we're looking at
    reduction of illnesses and injuries and accidents and workers
    compensation. That's a real savings.
        Similar with the DRP. We have the mediation, so we can cut
    funding and cut services on the front end, or do we want to cut
    it on the back end? Cost savings when we enter into an amicable
    settlement between the parties, as opposed to engaging in the
    protracted litigation.
        These are the considerations that we've made.
        Senator Hoeven. So, if your requirement to handle these
    cases for remediation, and so forth, remains the same, and you
    have a smaller resource base, does that mean it just generates
    a backlog? Is that essentially what ends up happening? Or what
    are you anticipating?
        Ms. Chrisler. Right. Pardon me. That's one of the results.
    We would have the backlog. And again, we would have to reduce
    the services. So, yes, the services would be offered in the
    dispute resolution, but they wouldn't be offered to the level
    that we offer them now. We work with the parties exhaustively
    for them to reach a mutually acceptable settlement or a
    mutually acceptable agreement. You know, we may not be able to
    extend services that comprehensively. We may just be able to
    just give them the bare bones and meet the requirements of the
    statute, as opposed to engaging with them and helping them meet
    the solution that's best suited for them. That's on the dispute
    resolution end.
        On the safety and health end, we may not be able to conduct
    inspections of every facility. We've--we completed three
    comprehensive biennial inspections. So, each Congress, we've--
    for the last three Congresses, we've conducted comprehensive
    inspections. So, we've seen a lot of places. We've worked with
    the employing offices in a lot of areas. So, we may not, to the
    extent that we have in the past, conduct inspections of
    absolutely every facility. We may rely on the offices to
    conduct self-inspections. And then we would spot check and go
    to those areas that have the highest risk. So, yes, we would be
    offering the services that we're required to, but at a much
    lower level.
        Senator Hoeven. Are there statutory changes that come to
    mind that would help you streamline any of that process?
        Ms. Chrisler. As I sit here, I can't think of a statutory
    change that would assist us in that, because the statute is
    requiring that we offer the services that are necessary to give
    the protections that the act contemplates, that we offer the
    inspections, and that we engage in administering the rights
    that the statute is providing to employees and employing
    offices. So, it's not a matter of amending the statute. That
    would result in limiting the protections, which I don't think
    anyone is really looking to do.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay. But, I think it's something to think
    about if there are statutory changes that would strengthen your
    ability to do some of these things more effectively or more
    efficiently, in a streamlined way--contract for services, any
    number of things--you ought to think about it. And then,
    depending on the wishes of the Chairman, I do have another
    question about your computer system, but I can come back----
        Senator Nelson. You can go ahead.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay.
        You're operating on a computer system that requires, as I
    understand it that each of your employees use two computers.
    And I have to use two BlackBerrys, because one's personal and
    one's for all the Senate stuff. And I do my best to keep all
    that in the right spot. But, one's personal, so I really only
    have one BlackBerry for Senate use. But, my understanding is
    that your employees are having to operate with two work
    computers, which doesn't seem like the most cost-effective or
    efficient way to do things. So, if you would, just explain why
    that's the case and then what your plan is to migrate away from
    it, and the costs involved the one time, and then the savings
    you would hope to realize.
        Ms. Chrisler. Sure. Thank you. And you're absolutely right,
    it's not effective--it's not efficient way to conduct business.
    And as we migrate to a more technological society, it hinders
    the work of our staff. It prevents us from telecommuting. It
    prevents us from accessing documents remotely. The reason
    behind it is because of the location of the agency and the way
    that our IT structure is designed. Right now, our agency is
    physically located in the Adams Building of the LOC. And as a
    very small agency, we, in essence, piggyback on their server to
    connect with the outside world. So, we have one computer that
    connects to the LOC's server that allows us to access the
    Internet and communicate with the outside world. The LOC has--
    administers that network. And we have an internal network,
    where we keep our confidential information claims that
    discrimination--claims that--are filed against Members of
    Congress--all confidential information that we maintain under
    the statute, we maintain within our internal server. So, we
    have two computers that we work on. It's not efficient. It is
    cost prohibitive. But, because of the way our office functions
    and the mandates that we have, it's the best way for us, at the
    moment, to protect that information.
        What we're doing is working with the LOC to be able to
    migrate our two computers into one and put up a firewall so
    that we can maintain the protection of the information, but
    still be connected to the system, because that is very cost
    effective for our agency--to be able to utilize the LOC's
    network for the external--the Internet purposes. As a very
    small agency with, what you see, a very small budget, having
    the fiscal--the financial responsibility of maintaining that on
    our own would just be costs that are unnecessary----
        Senator Hoeven. Right.
        Ms. Chrisler [continuing]. Given the situation that we have
    now. So, putting that firewall up and--will allow us to migrate
    to the one box.
        Senator Hoeven. Mr. Chairman, I have a couple followups.
    Should I continue, or would you----
        Senator Nelson. Yes, go ahead.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay.
        Well, then building the security system or the firewall is
    the issue, right? In other words, it's most cost effective for
    you to use the LOC computer. As you said, small agency. That
    makes sense. So, you're on their server and so forth.
        Ms. Chrisler. Right.
        Senator Hoeven. So, the real issue is just programming,
    building an adequate firewall for that secure information.
        Ms. Chrisler. That's right. And that's a cost and that we
    have requested in prior appropriations requests. It's something
    that we continue to work with the LOC on. Right now, they're
    engaged in an extensive restructuring of their security
    systems. And they have been working with us on migrating to one
    box, but we've made some modifications to that plan, because of
    the changes that they're making to their security system. So,
    we continue to work with them to get that firewall up. Once
    that's in place, we can move forward for our cost savings. And
    the numbers, I can provide for you for the record.
        Senator Hoeven. Do they, in essence, act as a service
    bureau, where you just pay them a fee out of your budget for
    the use of their time on their servers and their computers? Is
    that how it works?
        Ms. Chrisler. We have an interagency agreement with the LOC
    that involves a lot of different things, and one of them is for
    the IT work.
        Senator Hoeven. And are they actually building that
    security system, or firewall, so that you then can migrate to
    the one computer, and it's just a matter of them getting that
    done?
        Ms. Chrisler. I don't think they're building it. We've got
    IT staff within our agency that have taken this initiative, and
    we're working collaboratively with the LOC from our end. And
    so, I don't think they're needed to build it, but they--we need
    their help to implement it, of course.
        Senator Hoeven. And they're working on that now.
        Ms. Chrisler. Well, they are--they've indicated that they
    will continue to work with us once they've met some other
    priorities that they have.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay. If you could have them give us that
    cost, that anticipated time to build it, and then what the
    resulting savings might be, that would be helpful.
        [The information follows:]

        The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 requires the Office of
    Compliance (OOC) to maintain confidentiality of certain information
    that is brought to our agency. As a result, we currently maintain a
    dual network system: one internal/closed system (which consists of
    servers, desktops, custom applications, and an email system) to allow
    for the maintenance of confidential information, and one external/open
    system, provided by the Library of Congress (LOC) to allow for access
    to the Internet. The OOC maintains agency data within the closed
    network.
        This configuration allows the agency to maintain confidential
    information; however, there are many drawbacks in the current
    separation of the networks. There are significant costs associated with
    maintaining the internal network infrastructure; the cost of updating
    two computers (one for the external and one for the internal) is an
    additional expense incurred by the agency; and the loss of productivity
    for each OOC employee to use two computers daily is an inefficient way
    to conduct business.
        The OOC has designed a plan to install a firewall on the backbone
    of the LOC network. This design will allow the OOC to eliminate the
    internal network and move all OOC servers, custom applications and data
    to the open LOC network, where our Internet-accessible desktops
    currently sit. The firewall will provide the necessary security
    measures required to maintain the confidentiality of OOC data. The
    OOC's information technology staff will no longer need to maintain an
    internal email system or internal desktops, and the human resources
    costs associated with operating in a dual network environment will be
    eliminated.
        The OOC expects to realize the following from the elimination of
    the internal network:
      --One computer for each employee, rather than two;
      --Offset a forthcoming $50,000 cyclical computer desktop replacement
            cycle in fiscal year 2012; and
      --A significant decrease in annual productivity costs.
        Currently, the OOC loses 3 percent of productivity per staffer,
    daily, as a result of our current configuration. Given an agency of our
    size, with our limited resources and the multiple job duties performed
    by each staffer, a 3 percent daily loss is comparable to a 30 percent
    loss in a larger agency.

        Ms. Chrisler. Thank you. And I want to thank you for your
    question about changes to the act. That is something that we
    will think about. We'll talk to Rachelle and Lila about and----
        Senator Hoeven. Well, sometimes you have to go through a
    series of steps which may make sense or, based on the statute,
    now that you've been doing this you may want to say, ``You
    know, if we didn't have to do a couple of these things, we
    could still get a good outcome.''
        Ms. Chrisler. Sure.
        Senator Hoeven. So. If there is something like that.
        Ms. Chrisler. Thank you.
        Senator Hoeven. You bet.
        Senator Nelson. In that regard, Ms. Chrisler, probably the
    act requires you to take certain actions for inspections. It
    doesn't specify how many or how often or that you have to do
    it, which is what--I believe--you are trying to do as
    judiciously as you can and with as much effort toward
    protecting life, fire, and safety issues. So, maybe it wouldn't
    be required to change the language authorizing you to do it,
    and empowering you to do it, unless it's too specific and you
    can't meet the requirements because of the reduction in staff.
        Ms. Chrisler. That is--that the language within this--the
    OSHA inspection section is something that we will definitely
    take a look at and sit down and examine thoroughly to address
    the amount of inspections. I do believe it does say ``every
    Congress.'' So, there--it gives us that requirement that we do
    have to do this every Congress. And it may say ``each
    facility.'' So, it may be specific. But, we'll take a look at
    it and follow up, as necessary.
        Senator Nelson. And if it needs to be modified, it wouldn't
    necessarily prohibit self-inspections with oversight. Is that
    possible?
        Ms. Chrisler. I'm sorry?
        Senator Nelson. Well, if we did change the language in some
    way, you could still have directions for inspections without
    prohibiting self-inspection. In other words, authorizing some
    self-inspections with your oversight, with your requirements,
    and then seeing if they comply.
        Ms. Chrisler. And I think that we would want to maintain
    that relationship.
        Senator Nelson. Absolutely.
        Ms. Chrisler. Yes.
        Senator Nelson. I understand that. Yes.

           AOC deg.INTEGRATING FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

        Now, we've been thinking, for some time, how we can realize
    some cost savings and efficiencies by converting the all the
    legislative branch agencies' financial management systems to a
    single entity. And we're back to the LOC. The General
    Accounting Office has found this idea to be a logical approach.
    And, as a first step, the USCP recently went through a very
    successful conversion of their financial management. We're not
    talking about IT, here, as much as it is financial management
    system to the LOC's. Mr. Ayers, have you looked at perhaps
    doing that, from the standpoint of your office?
        Mr. Ayers. We have begun to, Mr. Chairman--we have begun to
    consider that. Our proposal was to let the USCP do it first----
        Senator Nelson. Yes, sure.
        Mr. Ayers [continuing]. Quite frankly, and shake out the
    bugs for us. And I think they've done that. It was successful.
    And there were very few and very minor issues with that
    conversion. I think that has paved the way for the rest of us
    in the legislative branch to do the same thing.

                         AOC deg.GAP ANALYSIS

        Senator Nelson. Well, I have to ask you, Ms. Chrisler, has
    Dr. Billington already done that in your case? Are you looking
    at it yet?
        Ms. Chrisler. This is something that our agency has been a
    part of for some time now.
        Senator Nelson. Yes.
        Ms. Chrisler. Yes.
        Senator Nelson. And he continues to collect his money, I
    suspect.
        Mr. Ayers, have you done what might be called the ``gap
    analysis'' that might be important to close in that connection,
    now that perhaps the first entity, the USCP have been able to
    go through it? Because there will be a gap to close.
        We have not done a gap analysis. We do think that one
    should be done before we move our appropriations over and our
    financial management systems over. We obviously did convert, a
    year ago, as you may know or may recall, Mr. Chairman, that we
    were using a company, that was hosting our financial management
    system. We competed that and moved it to a different company,
    and saved $1 million a year in doing just that.
        So, we're familiar with those conversions. We do think a
    gap analysis is necessary. But, we've not done one yet.
        Senator Nelson. You did mention that you're working on the
    CPP. I notice you're requesting $16.4 million for the east
    plant chiller relocation project. Is that as a result of the
    question of compliance, the citation that was issued some time
    ago?
        Mr. Ayers. No, Mr. Chairman, that's not a result of a
    safety problem or anything from the OOC or citation or anything
    like that.

                 AOC deg.ENERGY REDUCTION REQUIREMENTS

        There are two areas in the CPP where we make chilled water.
    One of them is in the west plant, and there's money in our 2012
    request to upgrade some of those chillers. And, similarly,
    there are two relatively new pieces of equipment--I think they
    date from 2003--that are in the east plant that are not
    connected to the west plant. We need to move them into the west
    plant to utilize those pieces of equipment. So, that's what
    those two projects are.
        Senator Nelson. I see. Will we realize any savings from the
    House's decision to discontinue the Greening the Capitol
    Initiative? In other words, I know that initially, there are
    costs associated with conversion, but not converting, will we
    save some money up front that would perhaps cost us on the back
    end later?
        Mr. Ayers. Would you repeat the question?
        Senator Nelson. Well, what I'm saying is, the House has
    decided, as I understand it, to discontinue the project called
    ``Greening the Capitol.'' In other words, making it much more
    energy efficient, with some changes to requirements that would
    do it. For example, if you look at your fiscal year 2012
    budget, do you have anything in that budget for the greening
    project that if they prevailed, would not be spent for that
    project up front, recognizing that investing up front for the
    greening project could end up being cost effective at a later
    date? But, there could be some cost savings up front of not
    having the money spent.
        Mr. Ayers. Yes, I understand. I think if that program is
    discontinued, I think the immediate savings would be the staff
    that are focused on that, that are funded by the Chief
    Administrative Officer of the House. I think, subsequent to
    that, in the AOC's appropriation, we have a number of energy-
    savings projects that we think are required for us to meet the
    energy savings and----
        Senator Nelson. But, they wouldn't necessarily be a part of
    that initiative.
        Mr. Ayers. They would not. Not necessarily, no.
        You know, all of the--or, most of the energy saving
    initiatives and ideas that come out of that office, we are the
    implementer of those. And ultimately, they help us meet our
    statutory energy reduction goals.
        Senator Nelson. But it also raises the questions about,
    Where do you cut and what do you cut?
        Thank you.
        Senator Hoeven. Thanks, Mr. Chairman, just a couple other
    questions.
        Mr. Ayers, how would you, in terms of both this concept of
    a level budget and then even a 10 percent reduction budget, so
    I know what those scenarios look like, and that we're prepared.
    And I also think that that will lead you to come back to me and
    really point out the tough spots. And we'll do what we can.

             AOC deg.DEFERRED MAINTENANCE VS. NEW PROJECTS

        But, under that scenario, just address, for a minute, how
    much you bring in on the deferred, versus how much on the new.
    That's one question. Because there may be some correlation
    there. In other words, if you don't do new--some of the new
    stuff, you may have to do more of the deferred, and so forth.
    And again, that may be something you have to kind of analyze.
    That would be one question.
        The other is, in these projects, both the new and the
    deferred, does that affect your personnel cost? In other words,
    are all the costs of doing those projects--is the personnel
    cost, the operating variable cost, built in there? Or, if
    you're not doing some of those new projects, then does that
    make a difference in terms of what your other operating and
    personnel costs are?
        So, those two questions.
        Mr. Ayers. Yes, sir. I think there may be a little
    confusion over the two lists that we provided in our budget
    that you may have before you. One of those lists, and the first
    one, is called our ``Recommended Project List''. And I think
    that totals $179 million.
        Senator Hoeven. $179,168,000.
        Mr. Ayers. Correct.
        Senator Hoeven. Not including the $50 million that's in
    what you call this ``House Historic Buildings Revitalization
    Trust Fund'', which I'm going to ask you about, too. So.
        Mr. Ayers. Yes.
        Senator Hoeven. That's the list I'm looking at.
        Mr. Ayers. So, that list is the list of projects that we
    recommend be funded.
        The second list that we include in our budget, simply for
    information purposes only, is the second page there. That's a
    list of projects that I've considered. My staff has brought
    them to me. They're ready to execute. And we have made the
    decision to defer those and not seek the money for those.
        Senator Hoeven. Oh, so that's not deferred maintenance.
        Mr. Ayers. No, no.
        Senator Hoeven. That's actually deferred projects. So, this
    $128,982,000 is--that's what's coming someday, not----
        Mr. Ayers. Yes.
        Senator Hoeven [continuing]. Deferred maintenance that
    needs to be addressed.
        Mr. Ayers. Some are deferred maintenance, many of them.
    They need to be addressed. But I've made the decision not to
    request them this year.

               AOC deg.OPERATIONS BUDGET PERSONNEL COSTS

        Senator Hoeven. So, your priority list is your priority
    list. Got that. Then what about the variable costs?
        Mr. Ayers. The way we approach these capital improvements,
    most of those have personnel costs built into them. And
    typically, if we do a major construction effort, we obviously
    will have to ramp up staff at the beginning and throughout it;
    and at the end, that staff then departs. And we do that,
    typically, through consulting services, construction management
    companies, and companies that provide program and construction
    management. Those kinds of costs are built into the numbers you
    see before you. However, our staff typically remains the same
    size. We hire consultants to help us through the ups and downs
    of various capital improvements.
        Senator Hoeven. So, it won't affect your other personnel
    and operating costs.
        Mr. Ayers. Not generally.
        Senator Hoeven. How far we go down that list, which we'll
    see, won't affect your other operating line.
        Mr. Ayers. Well, I think we could fund all of those
    projects in our project operations budget, and staff would not
    go up, because we would hire consultants to temporarily help us
    with those. When the projects are over, the consultants go
    away.
        Senator Hoeven. Then the----
        Mr. Ayers. So, our operations side stays the same.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay. Then the other thing, as it relates
    to the operating, is, you know, with our analysts, we'll want
    to make sure that you go through and really look at the
    operating, vis a vis how far we go down that capital project
    line. I mean, it's going to be important to hit the right
    balance there, particularly in your case. Obviously, in Ms.
    Chrisler's case, it's tougher, because it's pretty much all
    people and operating. But, we need a good balance, so we're
    taking a good look at the personnel and the operating line.

      AOC deg.HOUSE HISTORIC BUILDINGS REVITALIZATION TRUST FUND

        The second thing is, if you would, just tell me how this
    $50 million works, on what you refer to as the ``House Historic
    Buildings Revitalization Trust Fund''.
        Mr. Ayers. Yes, sir. On the first one, you're absolutely
    right, finding that right balance between the capital budget
    improvements--the operating budget. And our look at that is
    that, as we tighten the capital projects, the value and the
    necessity for the operating budget increases, because we're not
    doing the projects, we're not revitalizing, and we're not
    replacing equipment; therefore, our staff that keeps this
    equipment running day-to-day becomes more and more important to
    that. So, finding that balance, you're absolutely right, is
    important, and not cutting one or the other one too deeply.
        On the House Historic Building Revitalization Trust Fund,
    we think that that's a really important approach to the long-
    term viability of the Capitol campus. There are--as you see--
    have seen in our budget, there are some major building
    revitalizations that are before us--5 years out, 10 years out,
    15 and 20 years out. And those building revitalizations could
    cost a half a billion or a $1 billion, depending upon what
    building they are. And to be able to accommodate a project of
    that magnitude and make a request of $750 million in one fiscal
    year, and to have the legislative branch be able to appropriate
    that in one year, for us to execute the building
    revitalization, we don't think is a sustainable approach, and
    we don't think it's reality, quite frankly.
        So, we think a better approach is to invest in our future,
    and invest in our infrastructure incrementally, and to build up
    a corpus of funds so that when a historic building needs to be
    revitalized, we have money there to do it.
        And I think, second, with that--and most importantly to
    me--is that if we don't do that, that money will then compete
    for the projects, the deferred maintenance projects that are on
    this list. And those deferred maintenance projects won't get
    done. And that's when I think we really get in trouble with our
    building systems and our infrastructure.
        Senator Hoeven. Well, and you, being an architect, would
    have a good understanding of how best to do that. That's a
    better approach than a phased approach, where, if it were $50
    million, one option would be to put $50 million in that fund to
    build to a certain number that you can do the whole project.
    Another approach would be to say, ``Okay, we're going to do
    phase one of five phases, or whatever. And we're going to do
    $50 million worth of work.'' So, that's a better approach than
    a phased approach, is what you're saying?
        Mr. Ayers. Well, I think both of those are viable
    approaches, quite frankly.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay. Is it project dependent? Is that kind
    of how that works?
        Mr. Ayers. It typically is project dependent. It depends.
    There are efficiencies and inefficiencies in both of those
    approaches. Phasing, obviously, is a little more inefficient.
    And when we have to move people out of a building, it become
    extremely complicated.

                       AOC deg.BUDGET CHALLENGES

        Senator Hoeven. Sure.
        Is there anything that either of you would want to bring up
    that I haven't asked you about? I mean, is there something
    that, as you look at these budgets, or as we've talked about
    these things today, that you think it's important to bring up
    that we haven't talked about?
        Mr. Ayers. Not me.
        Ms. Chrisler. I think that we've talked about the
    significant issues. I would love to be able to maintain the
    line of communication and continue to meet with Rachelle and
    Lila so that we can work through these issues as we explore the
    different levels that you've mentioned and, you know, deal with
    the challenges that we face.
        Senator Hoeven. Thank you. And I think that's absolutely
    the right approach. And I appreciate that.
        Thanks.
        Senator Nelson. Yes, I would agree 100 percent with that.
    We're facing a situation where a number of our colleagues are
    out there with a number or a percentage for cuts, in search of
    a plan. Our approach is to find the plan and work our way into
    it, so that we don't get into a situation where, in order to
    meet the objective, somebody thinks we should close the CVC 2
    days a week, or something like that.
        What we want to do is preserve the security on Capitol
    Hill. We want to preserve the integrity of the structures on
    Capitol Hill. We want to preserve the function of Government on
    Capitol Hill. We're just faced with doing it in tight times.
    And so, working together, I think, will help us develop the
    smoothest possible approach to meeting all those objectives,
    and doing the best we can with the taxpayers' money in the
    process.
        So, thank you. I've asked everything I plan to ask today,
    except I'll ask the same thing of my colleague--``What question
    haven't I asked that I should ask?'' You know, I guess that's
    sort of the way to hear it. If you think of something, please,
    during our continuing discussions, share it.
        Mr. Ayers. Thank you.
        Senator Nelson. Thanks, to both of you.
        Ms. Chrisler. Thank you.

                         ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

        [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
    were submitted to the agencies for response subsequent to the
    hearing:]
                     Questions Submitted to Tamara Chrisler
                   Questions Submitted by Senator John Hoeven

                                  BUDGET CUTS

        Question. How would a reduction in appropriated funds affect your
    operations, services, and programs?
        Answer. We believe that any reduction in our funding below current
    levels would be a false economy because such action would only serve to
    shift costs to or increase costs for other legislative branch agencies
    as well as the judicial branch.
        Based on our analysis, we have determined that any reduction in
    funding for our occupational safety and health program would seriously
    jeopardize the risk-based inspection process we have inaugurated at the
    urging of this subcommittee. The importance of our biennial inspections
    in identifying and reducing hazards cannot be overemphasized: during
    the 109th Congress, we identified more than 13,000 serious hazards; in
    the latest biennial inspection in the 111th Congress, we found 5,400
    hazards--a significant reduction in hazards and a corresponding
    increase in safety. The safety and health inspections are currently
    being performed with a skeletal staff consisting of one full-time
    employee and one full-time contractor. With higher-risk areas being
    dispersed over an area that is greater than 17 million square feet, the
    inspection staff is spread as thin as it can be. The risk-based
    inspection program requires that the work of these inspectors be
    supplemented by staff that can thoroughly analyze the procedures being
    followed in higher-risk areas such as the machine shops, mechanical
    spaces, and utility areas so that hazards can be identified. This staff
    must then work with the employing offices to adjust processes and
    procedures so that potential hazards are minimized or abated. To
    perform this process in a collaborative manner requires more time and
    resources than simply performing walk-through inspections and issuing
    citations wherever violations are found. While we are confident that
    implementing this risk-based inspection process is worth the time and
    resources the Congress has invested in the program because it will
    result in a significant reduction in injuries illnesses, and the
    related costs incurred by legislative branch agencies when these
    injuries and illnesses occur, we are also very cognizant that we have
    stretched our resources as far as we can to provide this enhanced
    service. As it stands now, we are uncertain whether we will be able to
    complete this targeted schedule with our current level of funding. Any
    further reduction in funding would probably force us to abandon the
    risk-based approach and return to an enforcement method involving walk-
    through inspections and citations. This would mean that the anticipated
    savings in injury costs associated with the risk-based program would be
    lost.
        Moreover, as we look to the immediate future, the Office of
    Compliance (OOC) sees an increased need for thorough inspections of
    higher-risk areas as maintenance and capital improvement projects are
    being deferred in order to save costs. Deferral of capital projects not
    only increases maintenance costs, but increases the need for frequent
    safety inspections. If facilities use mechanical and electrical systems
    well beyond their useful life expectancy, the risk that these systems
    will fail and cause fire or injury increases dramatically. It may make
    sense to defer expensive capital improvement projects during this time
    of budget constraints; however, it must be recognized that this type of
    deferral will also increase the need for maintenance and inspection
    (and the costs associated with them). When these systems reside in
    buildings with known egress and fire-hazard deficiencies, the failure
    to be vigilant about safety inspections can be catastrophic. Interim
    measures such as increasing fire prevention through the use of
    inspections are a cost-effective way to allow continued use of outdated
    facilities and systems while maintaining an acceptable level of safety.
        Similarly, any reduction in the OOC's funding would reduce our
    Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) inspections and would be more
    than offset by the increased costs that the Architect of the Capitol
    (AOC) would incur. As it stands, ADA inspections can only be performed
    occasionally when we are able to squeeze time out of the schedules of
    employees and contractors who are assigned to other duties. There is no
    specific funding for this program so there is nothing there to cut. In
    addition, this program is being administered in a way that should
    result in significant savings. The ADA requires that new construction
    and alterations be designed and constructed in strict compliance with
    the ADA Standards for Accessible Design. In the past, the AOC has
    incurred additional costs when it was discovered that alterations and
    new construction did not comply with the ADA standards. The OOC is now
    finding ways to work with the AOC at the design and preconstruction
    stages to ensure that new construction and alterations comply with the
    ADA, thereby saving the costs associated with re-constructing completed
    projects so that they comply with the standards. Our inspection of the
    Capitol Visitor Center, prior to the completion of construction, is a
    perfect example of how ADA inspections result in cost savings.
        In addition, reducing funding to our employment dispute resolution
    program would result in diminished services and not in any net savings.
    The success of the confidential counseling and mediation program is
    largely due to the OOC's ability to offer these services in an
    expedited manner. The Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) requires
    that counseling be completed within 30 days of the request for
    counseling and that mediation, which lasts 30 days, be commenced within
    15 days of the end of counseling. See CAA Sec. Sec. 402 and 403. Based
    upon our experience with this program, we have found that employment
    disputes can often be resolved efficiently and less expensively when
    access to confidential mediation services can be provided before the
    parties incur substantial costs, become entrenched in their stances,
    and begin ``trying'' their cases in the press. We, therefore, believe
    that any cuts to this program will reduce the level of mediation
    services and drive up the cost of unnecessary litigation.
        The OOC also anticipates that the number of requests for counseling
    relating to employment disputes will increase as funding for
    legislative branch offices is reduced. These budget cuts will result in
    more layoffs and terminations, which in turn will likely result in more
    employees filing requests with the OOC challenging those layoff and
    termination decisions. Furthermore, because the cuts are occurring
    throughout all levels of Government, more terminated and laid-off
    employees will be unable to obtain another Government position after
    termination or layoff. This too is likely to fuel an increase in the
    number of employees filing with the OOC. As unemployment rates
    increased in the private sector during the last few years, the Equal
    Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) saw a dramatic increase in the
    number of discrimination complaints filed with its offices. In fiscal
    year 2010, the EEOC received almost 100,000 complaints (99,992). In the
    10 years between fiscal year 1997 and 2007, the EEOC consistently
    averaged approximately 80,000 complaints per year (fluctuating between
    75,428 and 84,442). In the last 3 years, the EEOC is averaging closer
    to 95,000 complaints per year (95,402 in fiscal year 2008, 93,277 in
    fiscal year 2009, and 99,992 in fiscal year 2010). The OOC anticipates
    that it, too, will experience a large increase in the number of filings
    as budget cuts cause staff reductions. Again, we do not believe that it
    makes sense to reduce funding for these services at a time of overall
    budget cuts because this is a time when both the need for these
    services will be increasing and the probable litigation costs incurred
    by not providing these services will undoubtedly surpass any apparent
    savings associated with cutting the services.

                               CHANGES TO THE CAA

        Question. Please describe any statutory changes that could help
    make your programs or processes more ``streamlined'' or efficient or
    that would otherwise save money?
        Answer. Pursuant to section 102b of the CAA, each Congress, the
    board of directors prepares a report analyzing current laws and
    determining whether those laws should be made applicable to the
    legislative branch. This most recent 102b report ``Recommendations for
    Improvements to the Congressional Accountability Act'' not only
    provides key recommendations, but also focuses on how these
    recommendations can produce cost savings across the legislative branch.

         SAFETY AND HEALTH AMENDMENTS THAT WILL RESULT IN COST SAVINGS

        Subpoena Authority in Safety and Health Investigations.--Unlike the
    Department of Labor (DOL) and other State and Federal entities,
    subpoena authority in aid of investigations was not given to the OOC
    under the CAA. This exemption limits the OOC's ability to investigate
    promptly and effectively safety and health hazards within congressional
    workplaces. Currently, the OOC is dependent on information that is
    voluntarily provided by employing offices and employees when it
    conducts safety and health investigations. In some instances, the
    absence of investigatory subpoena authority has significantly
    contributed to protracted delays in investigations, which results in
    additional personnel costs for OOC staff conducting the investigation
    and congressional staff responding to the investigatory requests.
    Inordinate delay or provision of only partial information results in
    faulty witness recollection, the lack and loss of evidence, untimely
    completion of inspections, and unnecessarily prolonged employee
    exposure time to hazardous conditions.
        Safety and Health Recordkeeping.--The recordkeeping requirements
    included in section 8c of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of
    1970 recognize the need for full and accurate information to administer
    effectively a safety and health program. With records, the OOC could
    better pinpoint worksites with high numbers of injuries and illness and
    identify and analyze their causes and use targeted safety programs to
    reduce and prevent such hazards.
        At the urging of this subcommittee, the OOC is no longer conducting
    the type of ``wall-to-wall'' inspections that were performed during the
    prior three Congresses. Beginning with the 112th Congress, the OOC has
    implemented a risk-based inspection process that allows us to focus our
    inspections on higher-risk areas. We implemented this risk-based
    process by hiring an Occupational Safety and Health Program Manager who
    has experience working in the insurance industry performing risk-based
    assessments of safety hazards. She has worked with the employing
    offices to develop a risk-based inspection process that focuses on
    higher-risk areas and allows lower-risk areas to be self-inspected by
    the employing offices based upon criteria established by the OOC, with
    oversight and spot-checking also provided by the OOC. We believe that
    this approach to inspections is consistent with the existing statutory
    language which grants sufficient discretion to the OOC's general
    counsel regarding the procedure and methods used to conduct the
    biennial inspections mandated by CAA Sec. Sec. 215(e).
        While the OOC has implemented this process by compiling a tentative
    and somewhat speculative list of higher-risk areas, the OOC has been
    hampered in its ability to identify higher-risk areas because there is
    no requirement in the CAA that legislative branch agencies maintain
    injury and illness logs or records. Nor does the CAA require that these
    logs or records be provided to the OOC when they are being maintained
    by agencies.
        Without these logs and records, the OOC general counsel cannot
    access the information needed to develop fully and efficiently a
    targeted risk-based inspection program aimed at the causes and
    prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses, as was envisioned by
    this subcommittee. As the DOL recognized, ``analysis of the data is a
    widely recognized method for discovering workplace safety and health
    problems and tracking progress in solving these problems.'' See,
    ``Frequently Asked Questions for OSHA's Injury and Illness
    Recordkeeping Rule for Federal Agencies'', www.osha.gov/dep/fap/
    recordkeepingfaqs.html.
        In February 2004, the then General Accounting Office (GAO) issued
    its report, Office of Compliance, Status of Management Control Efforts
    to Improve Effectiveness, GAO-04-400. In its report, the GAO made a
    number of recommendations to improve the OOC's effectiveness, one of
    which was to increase ``its capacity to use occupational safety and
    health data to facilitate risk-based decisionmaking'' to ensure that
    the OOC's activities contribute to ``a safer and healthier workplace.''
    (pp. 4, 14). The inability to acquire relevant and targeted employing
    office accident and injury data (OSHA section 8(c)(2)) hinders the
    general counsel's effort to tailor the biennial inspections, focusing
    its limited resources on work areas that have the highest incidence of
    illness or injury.

          WORKPLACE RIGHTS AMENDMENTS THAT WILL RESULT IN COST SAVINGS

        Notice Posting of Rights.--Almost all Federal anti-discrimination,
    anti-harassment, safety and health, and other workplace rights laws
    require that employers prominently post notices of those rights and
    information pertinent to asserting claims for alleged violations of
    those rights. By providing such notices, employees have a clearer
    understanding of their rights. Such notices also serve as a reminder to
    supervisors and co-workers that certain behaviors, such as sexual
    harassment, are not tolerated in the congressional workplace and that
    there are legal consequences for such behaviors. By deterring such
    behavior, it is anticipated that workplace conflict would diminish and
    the Congress would spend less money and time defending against
    discrimination claims.
        Mandatory Anti-discrimination/harassment Training.--The private
    sector and Federal executive branch have long recognized the benefits
    of mandatory anti-discrimination training for all employees. Much like
    with ethics laws, managers who do not understand their obligations
    under workplace rights laws are bound to run afoul of them. By helping
    managers to better understand workplace rights laws, compliance with
    those laws improve. Furthermore, managers will know how to quickly
    address such workplace strife rather than allowing it to fester and
    grow, resulting in greater legal consequence. It also informs employees
    about their workplace rights and how workplace conflicts can be
    resolved. The short amount of time spent on anti-discrimination
    training ``at the front end'' can prevent much greater time spent on
    litigation. The OOC is looking into the possibility of implementing
    this training through computer-based programs, a method that appears to
    be on the increase in the private sector. This could prove to be cost-
    efficient as well as effective.
        Consolidation of Dispute Resolution Programs for All Legislative
    Branch Agencies.--Another area of potential statutory change involves
    expanding the coverage of OOC procedures to include those legislative
    branch agencies currently excluded from some of the provisions of the
    CAA, i.e., the Library of Congress (LOC), the Government Accountability
    Office (GAO), and the Government Printing Office (GPO). Such a change
    would be consistent with ongoing efforts to consolidate specific
    services in particular legislative branch offices, such as
    consolidating all police and security services with the U.S. Capitol
    Police (USCP) (eliminating a separate LOC police force), moving all
    accessibility services to a separate Congressional Office of
    Accessibility Services (eliminating separate House and Senate offices),
    and implementing a uniform financial management system across all
    legislative branch agencies. Pursuant to a mandate from the House
    Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch in
    fiscal year 2005, this issue has been under study since fiscal year
    2006 by the foregoing agencies. The OOC could accelerate this process
    to identify potential cost savings that would result from such a
    legislative change.
        Although the GPO is part of the legislative branch, it is not
    subject to any of the provisions of the CAA. Most GPO employees are
    included in the Federal competitive service and employment laws that
    apply generally in the executive branch apply at GPO. While covered
    under their own statutory schemes, the GAO and LOC are not subject to
    the provisions of the CAA providing protections in the areas of
    employment discrimination, Fair Labor Standards, labor-management
    relations, genetic information use and disclosure, veterans'
    preference, and disability access to public services and
    accommodations. The GAO and LOC, however, are subject to the provisions
    in the CAA relating to occupational safety and health, and presumably
    to those provisions covering polygraph use and procedures, worker
    adjustment and retraining, uniformed services employment and re-
    employment, and family and medical leave.
        In the areas where there is no coverage under the CAA, GAO, LOC,
    and GPO utilize their own internal procedures and staff to provide the
    processes and procedures they are otherwise required to provide by law.
    In some cases, these agencies also use related agency employment
    dispute resolution panels or executive branch agencies. Thus, in
    addition to its own internal processes, the GAO is subject to the
    dispute resolution procedures of its own Personnel Appeals Board. Labor
    relations matters of the LOC are regulated by the Federal Labor
    Relations Authority and the GPO is covered by employment dispute
    agencies of the executive branch (the Merit Systems Protection Board,
    the EEOC, the Office of the Special Counsel, and the Federal Labor
    Relations Authority). Many of the processes used by the LOC, GAO, and
    GPO are duplicative of the services provided to the legislative branch
    by the OOC under the CAA.
        The mandatory counseling and mediation provisions of the CAA
    provide a cost-effective means to resolve employment disputes. Indeed,
    these procedures are already in use by such agencies of the legislative
    branch such as the AOC, the Congressional Budget Office, and the USCP.
    Employing offices within the House of Representatives and the Senate
    also utilize the case processing procedures of the OOC. The CAA's
    hearing process is a cost-effective alternative to litigation for all
    parties. Consolidating all counseling, mediation, and hearing services
    for all legislative branch agencies with the OOC would eliminate the
    needless duplication of resources that is currently occurring in the
    LOC, GAO, and GPO.
        Recordkeeping.--Another recordkeeping recommendation involves
    workplace rights other than those listed above with respect to safety
    and health. Most Federal workplace rights statutes that apply to
    private and public sector employers require the employer to retain
    personnel records in a certain manner and for a certain period of time.
    Although some employing offices in the Congress keep personnel records,
    there are no legal requirements to do so under the CAA. Mandating these
    requirements would assist in speedier resolution of claims because
    documentary evidence would be available to assist in adjudicating the
    merits of an employee's claims: employers would be able to use records
    to assist in demonstrating that personnel actions were carried out in a
    nondiscriminatory manner; employees would be able to show that the
    employer acted improperly; mediators may use such records to assist the
    parties in arriving at a resolution; and hearing officers may use such
    records to determine the merits of a case and whether certain cases
    should proceed to a hearing or be dismissed without a hearing. In the
    absence of such records, both parties must present their evidence with
    lengthy depositions and witness testimonies, all resulting in increased
    expenditure of taxpayer dollars.
        Whistleblower Protections.--The Congress has long recognized
    whistleblowers as saving taxpayer dollars by exposing waste, fraud, and
    abuse. The anti-retaliation provisions of the CAA only provide
    protection to employees who exercise their rights under current
    provisions of the CAA, and provisions for disclosures of alleged
    violations of law, abuses, or mismanagement are not included in the
    CAA. If the CAA were amended to include whistleblower protections, the
    OOC would not investigate or prosecute claims of waste, fraud, or abuse
    (the proper authorities would); rather employees who face retaliation
    for reporting waste, fraud, or abuse to the proper authorities would
    bring retaliation claims through the confidential alternative dispute
    resolution process as they would any other workplace rights claim. As
    in the private sector and Federal executive branch, congressional
    staffers would have whistleblower protections and the Congress would
    witness the taxpayer savings that whistleblower protections bring.

                              SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

        Senator Nelson. The hearing is recessed.
        [Whereupon, at 3:42 p.m., Thursday, March 3, the hearing
    was concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
    subject to the call of the Chair.]

             LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2011

                                           U.S. Senate,
               Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The subcommittee met at 2:28 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
    Senate Office Building, Hon. Ben Nelson (chairman) presiding.
        Present: Senator Nelson.

                        GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

    STATEMENT OF GENE L. DODARO, COMPTROLLER GENERAL

                    OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEN NELSON

        Senator Nelson. This meeting will come to order. Senator
    Hoeven is not going to be able to join us today. So we will
    proceed as we would ordinarily.
        We meet this afternoon to take testimony on the fiscal year
    2012 budget request from the Government Accountability Office
    (GAO), the Government Printing Office (GPO), and the
    Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
        And I am happy to welcome today our witnesses--Gene Dodaro,
    Comptroller General; William Boarman, Public Printer; and Doug
    Elmendorf, Director of the CBO.
        I want to reiterate a few of my concerns going into fiscal
    year 2012. Here, in Washington, it is clear that we need to get
    serious about controlling and cutting costs. And I can't fix
    the entire problem of overspending in the Congress, but I hope
    we can set an example here in the legislative branch.
        I started this process last year, as everyone here and the
    witnesses can attest to, when Senator Murkowski and I worked
    together to make reductions to this bill. And this year, it is
    the goal of Senator Hoeven and I, to work together to make even
    further cuts to next year's budget.
        Cutting spending for the Congress is an effort to lead by
    example. In many ways, our message, to paraphrase Harry Truman,
    is, ``The buck shrinks here.''
        I appreciate the contributions made by each of our agencies
    in assisting the Congress in its service to the country. We are
    truly grateful for the work you do, and we look forward to
    hearing from you and discussing your budget requests.
        Mr. Dodaro, last year when you appeared before this
    subcommittee, I introduced you as Acting Comptroller General of
    the GAO. So I want to congratulate you on your confirmation as
    the eighth Comptroller General of the United States and also to
    recognize you for being the first career GAO employee to
    achieve this impressive milestone. That is really quite an
    accomplishment, and obviously, we wish for you to continue your
    good work and have our good wishes.
        This year, the GAO is requesting a total of $556.8 million,
    the same as the fiscal year 2010 enacted level, and a total of
    3,220 full-time equivalents (FTEs). I appreciate the work that
    you and your staff have put into keeping the GAO's budget
    request flat this year, and I look forward to hearing the
    specifics of the request, specifically where we might, if
    necessary, as we think it would be, to make some additional
    cuts.
        As you know, unfortunately, no good deed goes unpunished.
    And so, we will try to avoid having that happen. But thank you.
        This is your first time appearing before this subcommittee
    since your December 29 appointment to the post of Public
    Printer, Mr. Boarman. Congratulations on your appointment, and
    welcome.
        And I understand that the GPO recently celebrated 150 years
    of service to the Federal Government, and I would like to
    congratulate you and your entire staff on that accomplishment,
    as well. The GPO is requesting a total of $148.5 million, which
    is $1 million, or 0.7 percent, more than the fiscal year 2010
    enacted level.
        Dr. Elmendorf, it is always good to see you and good to see
    you again here today. The CBO is requesting $46.8 million in
    fiscal year 2012, an increase of roughly $1.7 million, or 3.8
    percent, more than the current year. As you and as I have
    discussed, there are some explanations that would be very
    helpful in relating previous years to the current year request,
    and I look forward to discussing the particulars of your budget
    in just a few minutes.
        Now let us begin, I would like to call on Mr. Dodaro for
    your opening statement, followed by Mr. Boarman, and then Dr.
    Elmendorf. And I hope, if you could, keep your opening
    statements as brief as possible, perhaps as little as 5
    minutes. But we wouldn't want to shut down your opportunity for
    opening comments.

                      SUMMARY STATEMENT OF GENE L. DODARO

        Mr. Dodaro. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss
    the GAO's budget request for fiscal year 2012. I want to make
    sure we answer all your questions, so I will be very brief. I
    would like to make just four points.
        The first has to do with the breadth and scope of the GAO's
    support to the Congress. Second, is the return on investment
    that the Congress and the taxpayers receive as a result of
    their investment in the GAO. Third, is the importance we place
    on having a dedicated, skilled, and motivated workforce. And
    fourth, briefly, the rationale for our budget submission.
        First, in terms of the breadth of our support to the
    institution of the Congress, the GAO supports every standing
    committee of the Congress, and 70 percent of the subcommittees
    have requested our assistance. We issue hundreds of reports and
    testimonies every year across the full breadth of the Federal
    Government's responsibilities--from healthcare to defense. Just
    last week, for example, we testified at 13 hearings on
    everything from flood insurance to cybersecurity.
        The return on investment last year, as a result of the
    Congress and agencies implementing our recommendations, was
    $49.9 billion in financial benefits. That is an $87 return for
    every $1 invested in the GAO.
        Beyond this record, more than 1,300 other documented
    benefits occurred as a result of the GAO's work that didn't
    result in financial benefits, but resulted in improved service
    to the public or greater efficiencies and effectiveness of
    Government programs. For example, recommendations that we made
    improved oversight of nursing home safety.
        Eighty-two percent of our recommendations are implemented
    over a period of time. So we think we make--on a continual
    basis--a good effort to help ensure the accountability of the
    Federal Government and improve its performance.
        Now these accomplishments aren't possible without
    dedicated, talented people, and at the GAO we have a
    multidisciplinary workforce, as you know. We put a lot of
    effort into making sure that we have the right skills and types
    of people, both in technical disciplines and subject areas. To
    work on this, we provide support in making sure that they keep
    their training up to date so that we are using the most state-
    of-the-art methodologies and technologies. And we also put a
    big investment on working with our employees.
        As you know, and as you have commented in the past, we are
    rated as one of the best places to work in the Federal
    Government. We are very proud of that record. We work hard with
    our employees and with our union to have good, constructive
    ongoing relationships. We value that, and we are making good
    progress in that regard.
        Last, as the auditor of the consolidated financial
    statements of the Federal Government, I am acutely aware of the
    fiscal stress that our Government is under. And as we have said
    for a number of years, it is on an unsustainable long-term
    path. But I also recognize that during these times of making
    decisions on where to cut and how to allocate resources, that
    GAO's services are even that much more important to the
    Congress in order to help it make the best decisions possible
    to eliminate waste, to deal with a variety of issues, and to
    make cuts without having unintended negative consequences on
    the citizens.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        And so, therefore, we put forth what we believe to be a
    prudent, modest request. We have tried to gain as many
    efficiencies as possible, and we believe, with the request that
    we have put forward, that we can meet the highest-priority
    needs of the committees across the Congress.
        I know this subcommittee will give careful consideration,
    as you have in the past, to our request, and I look forward to
    answering your questions.
        [The statement follows:]

                      Prepared Statement of Gene L. Dodaro

        Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Hoeven, and members of the
    subcommittee: I appreciate the opportunity to be here today to discuss
    the Government Accountability Office's (GAO) budget request for fiscal
    year 2012. I want to thank the subcommittee for its continued support
    of the GAO. We very much appreciate the confidence you have shown in
    our efforts to help support the Congress in carrying out its
    constitutional responsibilities and to help improve Government
    performance and accountability for the benefit of the American people.
        With this subcommittee's support, in fiscal year 2010, the GAO
    provided assistance to every standing congressional committee and 70
    percent of their subcommittees. Our work yielded significant results
    across the Government, including financial benefits of $49.9 billion--a
    return on investment of $87 for every $1 invested in the GAO. In
    addition, we documented more than 1,300 other benefits resulting from
    our work that helped improve services to the public, promote improved
    management throughout Government and change laws, such as the Improper
    Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010.\1\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ GAO-11-2SP, United States Government Accountability Office
    Performance and Accountability Report Fiscal Year 2010 and GAO-11-3SP,
    Summary of GAO's Performance and Financial Information Fiscal Year
    2010.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Recently, we issued two major reports that underscore the GAO's
    continuing value in helping the Congress and the administration reduce
    costs and improve Government, particularly in a time of reduced
    resources.
      --First, just last week on March 1, 2011, we detailed 81
            opportunities to reduce duplication, overlap, or
            fragmentation.\2\ These opportunities span a range of Federal
            Government mission areas such as agriculture, defense, economic
            development, energy, general government, health, homeland
            security, international affairs, and social services. Within
            and across these missions, our report touches on hundreds of
            Federal programs, affecting virtually all major Federal
            departments and agencies. By reducing or eliminating
            unnecessary duplication, overlap, or fragmentation and by
            addressing the other cost-saving and revenue-enhancing
            opportunities contained in the report, the Federal Government
            could save tens of billions of tax dollars annually and help
            agencies provide more efficient and effective services.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ GAO-11-318SP, Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in
    Government Programs, Save Tax Dollars and Enhance Revenue.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
      --Second, our high-risk update issued on February 17, 2011,
            identified 30 Federal areas and programs at risk of fraud,
            waste, abuse, and mismanagement, and those in need of broad-
            based transformation. Solutions to high-risk problems offer the
            potential to save billions of dollars, dramatically improve
            service to the public, and strengthen confidence and trust in
            the performance and accountability of the U.S. Government.\3\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \3\ Our 2011 High-Risk List is included in Appendix I.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Looking ahead to fiscal year 2012, the GAO is acutely aware of our
    dual responsibilities in a time of fiscal austerity. First, the
    Congress has rightly come to rely upon the GAO to help identify
    billions of dollars in cost-saving opportunities to tighten Federal
    budgets or to point out revenue enhancement opportunities. We know our
    mission becomes ever more critical when the Nation faces difficult
    financial times. But second, the GAO must also ensure it meets this
    responsibility while implementing all possible cost savings in its own
    operations without diminishing our traditionally high-quality work that
    lays the foundation for critical decisionmaking and oversight by the
    Congress.
        Accordingly, we are seeking only to maintain our fiscal year 2010
    funding level of $556.8 million in fiscal year 2012 and plan to
    maintain our current authorized staffing levels. While operating at
    this funding level with no increase poses challenges, the GAO is
    committed to reducing our own costs as much as possible in order to
    absorb the additional demands and increasing costs of the coming year
    without additional resources. Our budget request attempts to balance
    tradeoffs and assumes that we will be able to manage at reduced funding
    levels, and try to maintain our staffing levels to provide insightful
    analyses on the most important priorities for congressional oversight
    and decisionmaking.
        However, if the GAO's funding is reduced below the requested level,
    more drastic measures would be needed, such as reductions in our staff
    capacity, which would result in increased delays in responding to
    congressional requests, limit our ability to provide timely responses
    to support congressional oversight, and reduce the number of requests
    that we could complete.

     gao deg.THE GAO'S EFFORTS HELP THE CONGRESS ADDRESS DOMESTIC
                          AND INTERNATIONAL CHALLENGES

        The GAO stands ready to serve the Congress and the American people
    at this historically critical juncture and is uniquely positioned to
    help address our Nation's challenges and identify opportunities.
    Pressures to reduce the Federal deficit following an economic recovery
    will mean a greater need for analyses of programs and their
    effectiveness, as well as a reduction in improper Federal payments and
    closing the gap between taxes owed and paid.
        Congressional demand for GAO services remains high as evidenced by
    our workload. We expect that trend to continue as a result of the
    pressures on Federal finances and our economy. For example, we will be
    working to produce future annual reports outlining duplication,
    overlap, and fragmentation as well as opportunities to reduce costs and
    enhance revenue. Additionally, the Wall Street Reform Act contained 44
    new statutory requirements or authorities for GAO assistance, including
    audits related to the Federal Reserve.
        Our past performance is evidence of the critical role our dedicated
    staff play in helping the Congress and the American people better
    understand issues, both as they arise and over the long term. For
    example, in fiscal year 2010, the GAO issue-area experts testified 192
    times before the Congress on a wide range of issues, ranging from air
    cargo, border and cyber security issues and the Department of Defense's
    planning for the drawdown of United States forces from Iraq to the
    Medicare prescription drug program, processing of disability claims and
    funding for broad band services.\4\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \4\ A list of selected issues on which GAO staff testified before
    the Congress during fiscal year 2010 is included as Appendix II.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The GAO's strategic plan for serving the Congress and the Nation,
    highlights the broad scope of our efforts to help the Congress respond
    to domestic and international challenges, such as:
      --threats confronting U.S. national security interests;
      --fiscal sustainability and debt challenges;
      --economic recovery and restored job growth; and
      --advances in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
        The GAO seeks not only to help position the Government to better
    manage risks that could compromise the Nation's security, health, and
    solvency, but also to identify opportunities for managing Government
    resources wisely for a more sustainable future.
        Our strategic plan covers the following goals and objectives:
        Goal 1.--Help the Congress address current and emerging challenges
    to the well-being and financial security of the American people.
      --Financing and programs to serve the health needs of an aging and
            diverse population;
      --Lifelong learning to enhance U.S. competitiveness;
      --Benefits and protections for workers, families, and children;
      --Financial security for an aging population;
      --A responsive, fair, and effective system of justice;
      --Viable communities;
      --A stable financial system and consumer protection;
      --Responsible stewardship of natural resources and the environment;
            and
      --A viable, efficient, safe, and accessible national infrastructure.
        Goal 2.--Help the Congress respond to changing security threats and
    the challenges of global interdependence.
      --Protect and secure the homeland from threats and disasters;
      --Ensure military capabilities and readiness;
      --Advance and protect U.S. foreign policy interests; and
      --Respond to the impact of global market forces on U.S. economic and
            security interests.
        Goal 3.--Help transform the Federal Government to address national
    challenges.
      --Analyze the Government's fiscal position and opportunities to
            strengthen approaches to address the current and projected
            fiscal gap;
      --Identify fraud, waste, and abuse; and
      --Support congressional oversight of major management challenges and
            program risks.
        Our strategic plan framework is included in Appendix IV.

          gao deg.CONSTRAINED FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET REQUEST

        Our requested funding level of $556.8 million will allow us to try
    to support a staffing level of 3,220 FTEs to provide insightful
    analysis on the most important priorities for congressional oversight
    and decisionmaking. We will continue to outreach to the Congress to
    understand and set priorities to ensure that we focus on the most
    important issues for congressional oversight.
        Although operating under a flat budget for 3 years provides
    significant operational challenges, we have carefully considered our
    resource requirements and made tradeoffs to ensure that we try to
    maintain our staff capacity within our current funding level to allow
    us to provide the Congress with high-quality, timely, and objective
    analyses of Government programs, operations, and finances--information
    that the Congress needs to make policy choices, ensure transparency and
    accountability, and protect the taxpayer.
        However, since 80 percent of our budget covers staff compensation
    and benefits, our flexibility to control costs without diminishing our
    staff capacity is limited. Without additional funding in fiscal year
    2013 and beyond, we would need to reduce our staff capacity which would
    increase the delay in starting work on congressional requests, limit
    our ability to provide timely responses and analyses to support
    congressional oversight, and reduce the number of requests that we
    could undertake.
        gao deg.the gao maintains effective workforce relations
        We could not have achieved our level of performance without the
    hard work and dedication of our professional, diverse, and
    multidisciplinary staff. Recognizing that the GAO's accomplishments are
    a direct result of our dedicated workforce, we continuously strive to
    maintain a work environment that promotes employee well-being and
    productivity. We are also proud of the results from our 2010 annual
    employee feedback survey, which indicate that employee satisfaction
    continues to increase and that we continue to make progress toward our
    goal to create a more inclusive work environment. In 2010, the GAO was
    once again rated second on the list of the ``Best Places to Work'' in
    the Federal Government by the Partnership for Public Service.
        The GAO regularly seeks and values the input we receive from our
    employee organizations. Recently, we reached tentative agreement with
    the GAO's Employees Organization--International Federation of
    Professional & Technical Engineers, Local 1921--on a master contract
    that has since been ratified by its members and is pending legal
    review. We are also working with our Employee Advisory Council and the
    Diversity Advisory Council on a range of issues.

                               CONCLUDING REMARKS

        I believe that you will find our prudent budget request is fiscally
    responsible and essential to ensure that we can maintain our capacity
    to assist the Congress in this challenging period in our Nation's
    history.
        We have a proven track record of helping the Congress evaluate
    critical issues of national importance and improving the transparency
    and accountability of our national government. Our new strategic plan
    for serving the Congress through fiscal year 2015 provides the
    framework for reporting on progress toward our institutional goals.
        We remain committed to providing accurate, objective, nonpartisan,
    and constructive information to the Congress to help it conduct
    effective oversight and fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. I
    appreciate, as always, your careful consideration of our submission and
    look forward to discussing our proposal with you.
        Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Hoeven, members of the subcommittee,
    this concludes my prepared statement. I would be pleased to respond to
    any questions that you or other members of the subcommittee might have.

          gao deg.APPENDIX I.--THE GAO'S 2011 HIGH-RISK LIST

        Strengthening the foundation for efficiency and effectiveness:
      --Management of Federal oil and gas resources (new);
      --Modernizing the outdated U.S. financial regulatory system;
      --Restructuring the U.S. Postal Service to achieve sustainable
            financial viability;
      --Funding the Nation's surface transportation system;
      --Strategic human capital management; and
      --Managing Federal real property.
        Transforming the Department of Defense (DOD) program management:
      --DOD approach to business transformation;
      --DOD business systems modernization;
      --DOD support infrastructure management;
      --DOD financial management;
      --DOD supply chain management; and
      --DOD weapon systems acquisition.
        Ensuring public safety and security:
      --Implementing and transforming the Department of Homeland Security
            (DHS);
      --Establishing effective mechanisms for sharing and managing
            terrorism-related information to protect the homeland;
      --Protecting the Federal Government's information systems and the
            Nation's critical cyber infrastructures;
      --Ensuring the effective protection of technologies critical to U.S.
            national security interests;
      --Revamping Federal oversight of food safety;
      --Protecting public health through enhanced oversight of medical
            products; and
      --Transforming the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) process
            for assessing and controlling toxic chemicals.
        Managing Federal contracting more effectively:
      --DOD contract management;
      --the Department of Energy's (DOE) contract management for the
            National Nuclear Security Administration and Office of
            Environmental Management;
      --NASA acquisition management; and
      --Management of interagency contracting.
        Assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of tax law
    administration:
      --Enforcement of tax laws; and
      --Internal Revenue Service (IRS) business systems modernization.
        Modernizing and safeguarding insurance and benefit programs:
      --Improving and modernizing Federal disability programs;
      --Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation insurance programs;
      --Medicare program;
      --Medicaid program; and
      --National flood insurance program.

     gao deg.APPENDIX II.--SELECTED TESTIMONY TOPICS: FISCAL YEAR
                                      2010

        Goal 1.--Address current and emerging challenges to the well-being
    and financial security of the American people.
      --Unemployment insurance trust funds;
      --Social Security disability;
      --Underfunded pension plans;
      --Proprietary schools;
      --Medicare high-cost drugs;
      --Toxic substance abuses disease registry;
      --Concussions in high school athletes;
      --Children's access to Medicaid dental services;
      --Corporate crime;
      --the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division enforcement
            efforts;
      --Community emergency preparedness;
      --Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac;
      --Department of the Interior's oversight of oil and gas;
      --Clean Water Act enforcement efforts;
      --U.S. Postal Service financial viability;
      --Federal facilities security;
      --High-speed rail projects; and
      --Commercial aviation consumer fees.
        Goal 2.--Respond to changing security interdependence threats and
    the challenges of global independence.
      --Financial markets regulation;
      --National flood insurance program;
      --Climate change;
      --Alien smuggling along Southwest Border;
      --Aviation security advanced imaging technology;
      --Terrorist watchlist screening;
      --Combating nuclear smuggling;
      --Iran sanctions;
      --Counternarcotics and anticrime efforts in Mexico;
      --Global food security;
      --Intellectual property enforcement efforts;
      --Afghanistan security force capacity;
      --DOD military and civilian employee compensation;
      --Warfighter contract support; and
      --Joint Strike Fighter challenges.
        Goal 3.--Help transform the Federal Government to address national
    challenges.
      --Defense space acquisitions;
      --Military language skills;
      --Interagency collaboration for national security interagency
            contracting strategies;
      --NASA management and program challenges;
      --Balancing the Government-to-contractor workforce;
      --Iraq and Afghanistan contract and grant management;
      --American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) oversight;
      --First-time homebuyer tax credit;
      --Equal employment opportunity at DHS;
      --2010 Census management challenges;
      --U.S. Government financial statements;
      --DHS financial management systems consolidation;
      --Protecting Federal information systems;
      --Environmental satellites;
      --Debt settlement risks to consumers;
      --Service-disabled, veteran-owned small business program fraud
            prevention;
      --HEAD START Program fraud; and
      --Defense contract audit agency vulnerabilities.

    gao deg.APPENDIX III.--HOW THE GAO ASSISTED THE NATION: FISCAL
                                   YEAR 2010

        Goal 1.--Address current and emerging challenges to the well-being
    and financial security of the American people.
      --Identified ways for the Department of Health and Human Services to
            strengthen inspections of ambulatory surgical centers leading
            to a fourfold increase in the proportion of centers found to
            have deficient practices;
      --Appointed 49 experts and stakeholders to three organizations
            created in new healthcare legislation;
      --Recommended food safety improvements that the Congress included in
            legislation for the Department of Agriculture's school lunch
            program;
      --Facilitated expedited claims process for the Department of Labor's
            black lung benefits program;
      --Increased the EPA focus on environmental threats to children's
            health;
      --Identified factors to consider in restructuring Fannie Mae and
            Freddie Mac;
      --Proposed changes to improve control of toxic chemicals in consumer
            products; and
      --Identified hidden fees for air travel that should be disclosed to
            consumers.
        Goal 2.--Respond to changing security threats and the challenges of
    global interdependence.
      --Led the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to begin
            developing a strategic plan to improve the national public
            alert and warning system;
      --Exposed weaknesses in the Transportation Security Administration's
            behavior-based identification of high-risk air passengers;
      --Recommended changes that FEMA implemented to better plan for
            national emergency response capabilities;
      --Informed the DHS's top-level review of weaknesses and risks in the
            multibillion dollar Secure Border Initiative;
      --Contributed to a more robust missile defense acquisition policy;
      --Encouraged reforms in the United Nations' procurement, internal
            oversight, and employment processes;
      --Provided insight to the Congress that led to expanding United
            States sanctions against Iran; and
      --Informed development of a framework to reform the U.S. export
            control system.
        Goal 3.--Help transform the Federal Government to address national
    challenges.
      --Informed the IRS' decision to extend regulation of paid tax
            preparers, including requiring them to obtain an identifying
            number and be tested for competency;
      --Exposed ENERGY STAR as a self-certification program by obtaining
            certification for bogus products which led the DOE and EPA to
            adopt improvements in their approval process;
      --Led General Services Administration to strengthen requirements due
            to improper spending on premium-class Government travel;
      --Surfaced weaknesses in the Department of Veterans Affairs
            outpatient scheduling IT systems;
      --Developed a methodology adopted by the Congress to efficiently
            target billions of dollars in Medicaid assistance through the
            ARRA;
      --Assessed IT risks for the 2010 Census to ensure successful
            execution; and
      --Profiled selected DHS investments in a 2-page format to provide the
            Congress with a new, easy reference on acquisition oversight,
            planning, and execution.
        Goal 4.--Maximize the value of the GAO by enabling quality, timely
    service to the Congress and being a leading practices Federal agency.
      --Implemented leading practices to attract a more diverse workforce
            and foster an inclusive work environment;
      --Leveraged technology to facilitate business process improvements in
            financial and administrative IT systems;
      --Improved access to our products with a new mobile Web site for
            users of small screen devices and a new electronic product
            format;
      --Collaborated with international accountability organizations to
            enhance their audit guidelines by incorporating private sector
            international auditing standards; and
      --Led development of a strategic plan for the international
            accountability community.

    gao deg.APPENDIX IV.--SERVING THE CONGRESS AND THE NATION: THE
                         GAO'S STRATEGIC PLAN FRAMEWORK

        Mission.--The GAO exists to support the Congress in meeting its
    constitutional responsibilities and to help improve the performance and
    ensure the accountability of the Federal Government for the benefit of
    the American people.
        Trends.--National security threats; fiscal sustainability
    challenges; economic recovery and growth; global interdependence;
    science and technology; networks and virtualization; shifting roles of
    Government; and demographic and societal change.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                       Goals                             Objectives
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Provide timely, quality service to the
     Congress and the Federal Government:
        To address current and emerging         Healthcare needs; lifelong
         challenges to the well-being and        learning; benefits and
         financial security of the American      protections for workers,
         people related to                       families, and children;
                                                 financial security;
                                                 effective system of
                                                 justice; viable
                                                 communities; stable
                                                 financial system and
                                                 consumer protection;
                                                 stewardship of natural
                                                 resources and the
                                                 environment; and
                                                 infrastructure.
        Respond to changing security threats    Homeland security; military
         and the challenges of global            capabilities and readiness;
         interdependence involving               advancement of U.S.
                                                 interests; and global
                                                 market forces.
    Help transform the Federal Government to    Government's fiscal position
     address national challenges by assessing.   and options for closing
                                                 gap; Fraud, waste, and
                                                 abuse; and major management
                                                 challenges and program
                                                 risks.
    Maximize the value of the GAO by enabling   Efficiency, effectiveness,
     quality, timely service to the Congress     and quality; diverse and
     and being a leading practices Federal       inclusive work environment;
     agency in the areas of.                     professional networks and
                                                 collaboration; and
                                                 institutional stewardship
                                                 and resource management.
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Core Values.--Accountability, integrity, and reliability.

                       gao deg.THE GAO'S MISSION

        The GAO--the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm of the
    Congress--exists to support the Congress in meeting its constitutional
    responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability
    of the Federal Government for the American people. The GAO examines the
    use of public funds; evaluates Federal programs and policies; and
    provides analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help the
    Congress make informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. The
    GAO's commitment to good government is reflected in its core values of
    accountability, integrity, and reliability.

        Senator Nelson. I appreciate your opening statement, and
    your point is well-made.
        So, Mr. Boarman, we would appreciate your thoughts, too.

                           GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

    STATEMENT OF WILLIAM J. BOARMAN, PUBLIC PRINTER
        Mr. Boarman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        And it is an honor for me to be here today in my first time
    testifying before your subcommittee, and I will keep my
    statement brief. But there are some important points that I
    would like to make about the GPO and its accountability and
    what it does for the Congress.
        The GPO, of course, is responsible for the production and
    distribution of information products for all three branches of
    the Government. These include passports for the State
    Department and the official publications of the Congress,
    Federal agencies, and the courts. We provide products in both
    print and a variety of digital formats.
        We support open and transparent Government by providing
    online access to authenticated information at no charge through
    our Federal Digital System (FDSys). FDSys has more than 250,000
    Federal titles and more than 25 million documents downloaded
    every month.
        We also partner with more than 1,200 libraries nationwide,
    participating in the Federal Depository Library Program. The
    libraries work with us to provide free public access to
    Government information in print and in digital form.
        Following my appointment by the President in late December,
    I returned to the GPO, where I had worked as a practical
    printer more than 35 years ago. The GPO today is a much
    different agency than the one that I left.
        At that time, there were more than 8,000 employees. Now
    there are barely more than a quarter of that number, but we are
    responsible for a broad range of products and activities that
    could only have been dreamed of back then--online databases of
    official Federal documents, passports, and smart cards and
    electronic chips carrying biometric data, print products on
    sustainable recycled paper using vegetable oil inks, and a
    robust information technology (IT) enterprise architecture, and
    more.
        These operations are managed by a uniquely skilled, small,
    and dedicated staff. Their support for the Congress is
    exemplary. They work through the night--sometimes under
    extremely difficult workloads and conditions such as snowstorms
    that close the rest of the Government--to assemble the
    databases and publications you need to carry out your
    critically important work.
        Our present and future are being defined by digital
    technology. The Congressional Record, bills, reports, and
    hearings, and other documents are generated from digital
    databases the GPO creates in response to the information needs
    of the Congress. No other agency is equipped to carry out that
    mission.
        Let me repeat that. No other agency is equipped to carry
    out this mission.
        Our use of databases has cut the cost of congressional
    information products over the past generation by more than two-
    thirds measured in constant dollars. Our databases are the
    foundation of our online dissemination capability, which has
    been in operation since 1994. The capability has expanded
    public access to Government information exponentially while
    reducing the cost of distributing print products.
        Our databases are also the platform for several key
    information systems serving the Congress today. They are used
    by the Library of Congress (LOC) to support the THOMAS system,
    as well as the legislative information systems the LOC makes
    available to the Senate and House offices.
        Creating these databases is the majority of the work funded
    by the congressional printing and binding appropriation. Even
    though the name on this account may be old-fashioned, it is the
    source of the financing for the digital information platform we
    have built and manage for the Congress. Because of the way it
    is structured, this appropriation can only be accessed when we
    actually print for the Congress.

                GPO deg.GPO'S SUPPORT FOR THE CONGRESS

        The GPO's support for the Congress is extensive. My guess
    is that our work is more closely integrated with your daily
    operations than any other congressional support agency, as
    important and as valuable as their work is. But it is provided
    quietly in the background, and it is often not immediately
    clear what we do, but we are working to educate Members of
    Congress and their staff of our essential services.
        Since taking office, I have met with Members, officials,
    and staff of the Senate and House to discuss how the GPO can
    best service their needs. We have also been working
    cooperatively with the Appropriations Committees. We have
    reduced spending within the GPO by cutting travel, outside
    hiring, and by other costs. We have cut $5.2 million from the
    2012 appropriations request originally submitted to Office of
    Management and Budget by my predecessor late last year.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        For the record, our request includes two one-time
    components--$1.4 million for printing-related items for the
    2013 Presidential Inauguration and another $1.4 million to fund
    a shortfall in congressional printing carried forward from
    fiscal year 2009. Without these, our request would be $1.8
    million under the level of funding provided to the GPO by the
    continuing resolution.
        Also, we have $2.5 million left over from fiscal year 2006
    that could be transferred to the revolving fund under current
    law. With the transfer, our overall request for new funding
    would be reduced by this amount, which would also bring us
    under the level provided by the continuing resolution.
        [The statement follows:]

                    Prepared Statement of William J. Boarman

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the Subcommittee on
    the Legislative Branch: It is an honor to be here today to present the
    appropriations request of the U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) for
    fiscal year 2012. Our request is for the congressional printing and
    binding appropriation and the salaries and expenses appropriation of
    the Superintendent of Documents, both of which are included in the
    annual legislative branch appropriations bill. These two accounts cover
    the GPO's provision of congressional information products and services
    as authorized by law and our provision of public access to
    congressional and other Government information products through
    statutorily established information dissemination programs under the
    Superintendent of Documents.
        All other the GPO functions and activities--including the
    production of U.S. passports for the State Department as well as secure
    credentials for congressional and agency use, the procurement of
    information products and services in partnership with the private
    sector, the sales of Government information products and services to
    the public, and related operations--are financed on a reimbursable
    basis through the GPO's business-like revolving fund, which is
    authorized through the annual legislative branch appropriations bill.

                              gpo deg.GPO

    Background
        With just 2,200 employees, the GPO is the Federal Government's
    primary centralized resource for producing, procuring, cataloging,
    indexing, authenticating, disseminating, and preserving the official
    information products of the U.S. Government in digital and tangible
    forms. The agency is responsible for the production and distribution of
    information products for all three branches of the Federal Government,
    including U.S. passports for the Department of State as well as the
    official publications of the Congress, the White House and other
    Federal agencies, and the courts.
        Along with sales of publications in digital and tangible formats to
    the public, the GPO supports openness and transparency in Government by
    providing permanent public access to Federal Government information at
    no charge through its Federal Digital System (www.fdsys.gov), which has
    more than 250,000 Federal titles online and sees more than 25 million
    documents downloaded every month, and through partnerships with
    approximately 1,220 libraries nationwide participating in the Federal
    Depository Library Program. In addition to the GPO's Web site,
    www.gpo.gov, we communicate with the public routinely via Twitter
    twitter.com/USGPO, YouTube www.youtube.com/user/gpoprinter, and
    Facebook www.facebook.com/USGPO.
        We first opened our doors for business 150 years ago this month, on
    March 4, 1861, the same day Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as our 16th
    President. Our mission can be traced to the requirement in Article I of
    the Constitution that each House shall keep a journal of its
    proceedings and from time to time publish the same. Senator Schumer put
    as statement in the Congressional Record recognizing the GPO's
    anniversary, which I'm pleased to attach to this statement.
        In our history we have produced every great American state paper--
    and an uncounted number of other Government publications--since
    President Lincoln's time, including the Emancipation Proclamation.
    Social Security cards, Medicare and Medicaid information, Census forms,
    tax forms, citizenship forms, military histories ranging from the
    Official Records of the War of the Rebellion to the latest accounts of
    our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, emergency documents like the ration
    cards and the ``Buy Bonds'' posters used during World War II, the
    Warren Commission Report on President Kennedy's assassination, the
    Watergate transcripts, the 9/11 Commission Report, Presidential
    Inaugural Addresses, Supreme Court opinions, and the great acts of the
    Congress that have shaped our society--all these as well as millions of
    other documents from the historic to the humble have been produced by
    the GPO on their way to use by the Congress, Federal agencies, and the
    American public.
        For the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House, and the
    committees of the Senate and House, we produce the documents and
    publications required by the legislative and oversight processes of the
    Congress, including the daily Congressional Record, bills, reports,
    legislative calendars, hearings, committee prints, and other documents,
    as well as stationery, franked envelopes, and other materials such as
    memorials and condolence books, programs and invitations, phone books,
    and the other products needed to conduct business of the Congress. We
    also detail expert staff to support the information product
    requirements of Senate and House committees and congressional offices
    such as the Senate Office of Legislative Counsel.
        The production of the Congressional Record alone is a remarkable
    job, averaging about 170 pages per issue, but ranging in size from a
    few pages to hundreds of pages per night depending on the amount of
    business transacted, all formatted, paginated, proofed, corrected,
    uploaded for online access, printed, and delivered overnight, every
    night the Congress is in session. The history of our Nation as revealed
    in the proceedings of the Congress is preserved for generations to come
    in the permanent edition of the Congressional Record and in the
    Congressional Serial Set, containing all the numbered reports and
    documents of each Congress and published continuously since 1817, both
    produced by the GPO.
        Since taking office in early January, I've met with the Secretary
    of the Senate and the Clerk of the House and various Members and staff,
    and have heard repeatedly about the utility of the products we provide
    for Members and staff in performing the work of their offices and their
    committees. Ensuring that utility--supporting the Congress in carrying
    out its constitutional legislative function--is our most important job.
    In addition, with the Library of Congress (LOC) and the National
    Archives, the work we perform is a basic part of governmental openness
    and transparency, and an integral part of the creation and preservation
    of the record of our Government for the American people.

    The GPO and Digital Information Technologies
        As Archivist of the United States David Ferriero recently said, the
    GPO has not rested with drums of printer's ink and rolls of paper
    measured by the ton. Our present and future are clearly being defined
    by digital technology, and digital technology itself has radically
    changed the way printing is performed today. This is especially true
    where the information products used by the Senate and House of
    Representatives are concerned. The GPO's conversion to digital
    databases for the composition of congressional publications occurred
    more than a generation ago. Today the activities associated with
    creating congressional information databases comprise the majority of
    the work funded by our annual congressional printing and binding
    appropriation.
        In addition to using these databases to produce printed products as
    required by the Congress, we upload them to the Internet via our online
    information systems, known previously as GPO Access and today as the
    GPO's FDSys. Since we first went online with congressional information
    in 1994, these systems have provided the Congress and the public with
    the definitive source not only of legislative but executive and
    judicial information online.
        Our creation of digital databases of congressional information from
    which we can print and provide online public access has dramatically
    increasing productivity and dramatically reduced costs to the taxpayer.
    As our budget submission shows, our digital production systems have
    reduced the level of the congressional printing and binding
    appropriation by more than two-thirds in constant-dollar terms since
    1975 while expanding our information capabilities exponentially.
        The GPO's congressional database systems also form the basic
    building blocks of other information systems supporting the Congress.
    Our congressional information databases are provided directly to the
    LOC to support its THOMAS system as well as the legislative information
    systems the LOC makes available to Senate and House offices. The GPO
    and the LOC are also collaborating today on the digitization of
    previously printed documents, such as the Congressional Record and the
    Statutes at Large, to make them more broadly available to the Congress
    and the public, and we are jointly developing a new process for
    updating the digital edition of the Constitution Annotated.
        The GPO's digital systems also support other key Federal
    publications, including the U.S. budget and, most importantly, the
    Federal Register and associated products, which we also produce.
    Through the GPO's efforts, the online Federal Register is being made
    available in extensible markup language (XML) to support bulk data
    downloads via www.data.gov, and with the Office of the Federal Register
    we developed the online Federal Register 2.0, an innovative approach to
    making information on Federal regulations and related documents
    available to the public. Our advanced authentication systems, supported
    by public key infrastructure (PKI), are an essential component for
    assuring the digital security of congressional and agency documents.
        The other major products that the GPO produces are U.S. passports
    for the Department of State, the premier component of our secure and
    intelligent documents business unit. At one time no more than a
    conventionally printed document, passports today incorporate a chip and
    antenna array capable of carrying biometric identification data, which
    with other security features has transformed this document into the
    most secure identification credential obtainable. We have also
    developed a line of secure identification ``smart cards'' to support
    the credential requirements of the Department of Homeland Security for
    certain border crossing documents, and our secure credential unit has
    been certified as the only Government-to-Government provider of
    credentials meeting the requirements of Homeland Security Presidential
    Directive 12.

    The GPO in Partnership With Industry
        Other than congressional and inherently governmental work such as
    the Federal Register, the budget, and secure and intelligent documents,
    we produce virtually all other information product requirements via
    contract through a longstanding partnership with the private sector
    printing industry. In fact, our procurement operation handles
    approximately 75 percent of all work sent to the GPO for production,
    amounting to $450-$500 million annually. This system is one of the
    Government's longest running and most successful programs of utilizing
    the private sector, which is represented by more than 16,600 individual
    firms registered to do business with us, the vast majority of whom are
    small businesses averaging 20 employees per firm. Contracts are awarded
    on a purely competitive basis; there are no set-asides or preferences
    in contracting other than what is specified in law and regulation,
    including a requirement for the Buy American Act. This partnership
    provides great economic opportunity for the private sector.

    The GPO and Open, Transparent Government
        Producing and distributing the official publications of our
    Government fulfills an informing role originally envisioned by the
    Founders, when James Madison said:

        ``A popular Government without popular information, or the means of
    acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy, or perhaps
    both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to
    be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power which
    knowledge gives.''

        A key mechanism for this purpose is the Federal Depository Library
    Program, which today serves millions of Americans through a network of
    some 1,220 public, academic, law, and other libraries located in
    virtually every Congressional District across the Nation. These
    libraries are critical links between ``We the People'' and the
    information provided by the Federal Government. The GPO provides the
    libraries with information products in online or tangible formats, and
    the libraries in turn make these available to the public at no charge
    and provide additional help and assistance to depository library users.
    One of the other programs we operate is in fulfillment of an
    international treaty. Under it, we distribute certain Federal
    publications to other governments abroad as designated by the LOC. In
    return, they send the LOC their official publications, which the LOC
    then makes available for the use of the Congress and the public. This
    helps maintain the universal nature of the LOC's collections, as
    Librarian of Congress James Billington recently pointed out.
        Along with these programs, we also provide public access to the
    wealth of official Federal information through public sales featuring
    secure ordering through an online bookstore for the GPO sales
    publications and a partnership with the private sector to offer Federal
    publications as e-Books, and we operate effective and efficient
    information distribution programs for other Federal agencies on a
    reimbursable basis, including the General Services Administration's
    Consumer Information Center publications.

    Recent Actions
        Since taking office on January 3 this year, my management team and
    I have worked to reduce spending and ensure that the GPO's finances
    remain sound in the face of ongoing constraints on the Federal budget.
    We have reduced our appropriations request for fiscal year 2012 by more
    than $5 million from what was originally submitted to Office of
    Management and Budget (OMB). We cut the GPO's annual spending plan as
    previously submitted to the Joint Committee on Printing by $15 million
    and implemented controls on hiring, travel, certain contractual
    services, and related discretionary accounts. We realigned the GPO's
    organization so the Chief Financial Officer reports directly to me
    rather than through subordinate officers, and implemented a task force
    on recovery of outstanding payments from Federal agencies. Otherwise,
    there is continuity of ongoing initiatives such as the development of
    FDSys, support for our Oracle suite of business enterprise services,
    and planning for continuity of operations (COOP). We are also pursuing
    additional revenue opportunities, particularly in the field of secure
    credentialing, as well as increased utilization of our printing
    procurement capability by Federal agencies.
        My meetings with the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the
    House were to discuss how the GPO can best assist them in supporting
    the needs of the Congress. We have been meeting with both staff and
    Members of the appropriations committees and cooperating with them in
    their effort to provide for appropriations beyond the current
    continuing resolution. We fully understand the intention of the
    Congress to control its spending and you will have our cooperation in
    meeting this goal.

            gpo deg.FISCAL YEAR 2012 APPROPRIATIONS REQUEST

        For fiscal year 2012, we are requesting a total of $148,474,000, a
    reduction of $5.2 million, or 3.4 percent, from the amount submitted to
    the Office of Management and Budget late last year, and an increase of
    just $1,013,000 more than the continuing resolution (Public Law 111-
    242, as amended).
        Our request includes two one-time components: $1.4 million for work
    supporting the 2013 Presidential Inauguration and $1.4 million to fund
    a shortfall in the congressional printing and binding appropriation
    carried forward from fiscal year 2009. Excluding these one-time
    requests, our overall request would be $145,674,000, a decrease of
    $1,787,000 from the current continuing resolution.
        There is an unexpended balance of $2.5 million in the salaries and
    expenses appropriation from fiscal year 2006 that could be transferred
    to the revolving fund under current law. If the transfer is approved by
    the Appropriations Committees, it would reduce our overall request for
    new funding to $145,974,000.
        Our funding request for fiscal year 2012 is designed to:
      --meet projected requirements for congressional information products
            and services as authorized by law, provide the necessary funds
            for materials required for the 2013 Presidential Inauguration,
            and recover the shortfall in this account carried forward from
            fiscal year 2009;
      --fund the operation of the GPO's statutory programs that provide
            public access to congressional and other Government information
            products nationwide; and
      --continue the development of the GPO's FDSys, which provides the
            Congress, Federal agencies, and the public with no-fee digital
            access to a vast range of congressional and other Federal
            information products, and support our Oracle-based enterprise
            infrastructure.

    Congressional Printing and Binding Appropriation
        We are requesting $100,001,000 for this account to cover the
    estimated cost of congressional information products and services as
    authorized by law. This represents an increase of $6,233,000 more than
    the level provided by the current continuing resolution.
        Of the increase, $1.4 million is estimated to be required for work
    to support the 2013 Presidential Inaugural and $1,390,000 is required
    to fund the shortfall in this appropriation carried forward from fiscal
    year 2009. The balance of the increase, or $3,443,000, includes
    $2,909,000 for estimated volume increases in certain work categories--
    principally the Congressional Record, business calendars, and
    hearings--offset by estimated volume decreases in other categories,
    primarily miscellaneous publications and bills. It also includes
    $534,000 for price level changes averaging 0.6 percent that are
    attributable to existing wage contracts and projected cost increases
    for materials and supplies.

    Salaries and Expenses Appropriation of the Superintendent of Documents
        We are requesting $42,173,000 for this account to support public
    access to congressional and other Government information products
    through the GPO's statutory information dissemination programs,
    primarily the Federal Depository Library Program. Our request
    represents an increase of $1,262,000 more than the level approved in
    the current continuing resolution.
        Included in the increase is $196,000 for mandatory pay costs
    (pertaining only to within-grade increases) and price level changes,
    $262,000 for the level of the GPO overhead required to be distributed
    to salaries and expenses programs, and $304,000 for FDSys annual
    operating costs attributable to Superintendent of Documents programs.
    In addition, we are requesting $500,000 to continue legacy systems
    migration and modernization costs, as well as historical digitization
    projects approved by the Joint Committee on Printing and involving
    collaboration with the LOC.
        As noted above, there is an unexpended balance of $2.5 million in
    the salaries and expenses appropriation from fiscal year 2006 that
    could be transferred to the revolving fund under current law. If the
    transfer is approved by the Appropriations Committees, it would reduce
    our request for new funding to the salaries and expenses appropriation
    by that amount.

    Revolving Fund
        We are requesting $6.3 million for this account, to remain
    available until expended, to fund essential investments in information
    technology development. These include $5 million to continue developing
    FDSys and $1.3 million for support for our Oracle-based enterprise
    infrastructure. The GPO has requested these funds as additions to the
    revolving fund's working capital to enable the fund to continue
    financing other investments in upgrades of technology, equipment, and
    plant modernization.
        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee, this
    concludes my prepared statement. We look forward to working with you
    and the subcommittee in your consideration of our appropriations
    request for fiscal year 2012.
                                     ______

                 [From the Congressional Record, March 4, 2011]

              150th Anniversary of the Government Printing Office
                        (By Senator Charles E. Schumer)

        Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I rise today as the chairman of the
    Joint Committee on Printing to recognize the Government Printing
    Office, GPO, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. GPO opened its
    doors on March 4, 1861, the same day that President Abraham Lincoln
    took the oath of office for his first term. Since that time, the agency
    has used constantly changing technologies to meet the needs of the
    Congress, Federal agencies, and the public. During GPO's early days,
    employees relied on ink and paper to publish the text of President
    Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Today, as another President from
    Illinois leads the Nation, GPO employees are using the latest digital
    technology to document the activities and decisions of our Government
    and to fulfill GPO's founding mission, which is ``Keeping America
    Informed.''
        While GPO's past has been about printing, its present and future
    are being defined by electronic publishing. GPO has been investing for
    more than a generation in digital production and dissemination
    technology, an investment that has yielded significant improvements in
    productivity, capability, and savings for the taxpayers. The GPO
    estimates that converting to electronic, digital technology has
    resulted in a savings of 66 percent on the cost of congressional
    printing alone. Deploying such technology has also reduced the number
    of employees to fewer than at any time in the past century. And it has
    reduced dramatically the number of copies of official documents that
    are printed.
        GPO's partnership with the printing industry supports tens of
    thousands of jobs. At the same time, by using GPO as a central
    procurement agency, the Federal Government reduces substantially the
    cost of these contracts to the taxpayers.
        GPO now has a range of products and services that could only have
    been dreamed of 30 years ago: Online databases of Federal documents
    with state- of-the-art search and retrieval capabilities available to
    the public without charge, Government publications available as e-
    Books, and a public presence not only on the Web but also on Twitter,
    Facebook, and You Tube. No longer is GPO primarily a publisher of
    printed government documents, but a fully integrated electronic
    publisher and clearinghouse whose products are available in many
    Internet-based locations. In addition, the State Department relies on
    GPO to provide highly secure U.S. passports containing sophisticated
    smart chips. GPO does this in conjunction with the private sector,
    which supplies certain critical components.
        Another key function of GPO is its partnership with more than 1,200
    Federal depository libraries across the country. These libraries,
    established by statute in all 50 States, make Federal documents
    available to millions of students, researchers, businesses, and others
    every year in both digital and print formats.
        In short, GPO is responsible for the production and distribution of
    information products and services for all three branches of the Federal
    Government, including U.S. passports for the Department of State as
    well as the official publications of the Congress, the White House, and
    other Federal agencies. In addition to publication sales, GPO offers
    permanent public access to Federal Government information at no charge
    through GPO's Federal Digital System--www.fdsys.gov--and through
    partnerships with approximately 1,200 libraries nationwide that are
    part of the Federal Depository Library Program.
        I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating the GPO on its
    150th anniversary and on its contributions to keeping the public
    informed.

        Mr. Boarman. Mr. Chairman, thank you very, very much, and I
    will be happy to answer any questions that you have.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Dr. Elmendorf.

                          CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

    STATEMENT OF DOUGLAS W. ELMENDORF, Ph.D., DIRECTOR
        Dr. Elmendorf. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        I appreciate the opportunity to present the CBO's budget
    request for fiscal year 2012.
        As you know, the CBO's mission is to provide the Congress
    with objective, impartial analyses of budget and economic
    issues, including the information and cost estimates needed for
    the congressional budget process.
        There are about 250 people currently working at the CBO. In
    the coming year, we anticipate a workload of roughly 650 formal
    cost estimates. It is worth emphasizing that the formal
    estimates are just the tip of the iceberg because more and
    more, we are being asked for informal estimates or proposals at
    early stages of the legislative process. We will do, literally,
    thousands of those in the coming year.
        We also expect to release approximately 100 analytic
    reports and other publications, covering our budget and
    economic outlook, analysis of the President's budget, long-term
    budget projections, monthly budget reviews, and in-depth
    analyses of a broad range of policy issues, including
    healthcare delivery and financing, policies for increasing
    economic growth and employment, tax reform, and proposals to
    address the country's long-term budgetary imbalance.
        In fulfilling our mission, the CBO relies on a highly
    skilled workforce. Most of our analysts have advanced degrees
    and are in high demand outside the Government and in agencies
    in the executive branch. So we need to recruit them and retain
    them in a highly competitive job market.

                          CBO deg.CBO BUDGET

        As a result, about 90 percent of our budget represents
    compensation for the agency staff. About 5 percent is for IT
    equipment and services, and the remainder is for training,
    office supplies, and other items.
        Therefore, the contour of the CBO's budget is closely
    linked to the agency's staffing level. The staffing level is,
    in turn, closely linked to the output we can provide to the
    Congress.
        Of course, we do not expect and are not requesting to be
    spared from the budget stringency facing the rest of the
    Federal Government. Our proposed budget for fiscal year 2012,
    prepared a few months ago, is equal to the total resources that
    were provided to the agency 2 years earlier, in 2010. That
    represents a scaling back of the multiyear staffing plan that
    was the basis for our budget request last year.
        As you noted, Mr. Chairman, comparing our 2012 budget
    request with our 2010 resources is complicated by the fact that
    the agency received a 2009 supplemental appropriation, which
    was available for use in 2010 as well. And the figure I think
    you may have in front of you and is in the written testimony
    tries to summarize that situation.

                      CBO deg.SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDS

        A small amount of supplemental funds was used in 2009. Most
    was used in 2010. Indeed, the CBO's regular 2010 appropriation
    was reduced to take account of the availability of those
    supplemental funds.
        As a result, the CBO's overall resources received little
    net boost from the supplemental, and the 2010 regular
    appropriation was artificially low. The CBO's request for 2012,
    the far right bar in the picture, of $46.9 million equals our
    2010 appropriation of $45.2 million, plus the $1.7 million from
    the 2009 supplemental that was used in 2010.

                  CBO deg.CURRENT FISCAL YEAR FUNDING

        But let me say just a few words about our funding in the
    current fiscal year. Like the rest of the Government, we have
    been operating under a continuing resolution so far. The
    funding for the CBO has been equal to the agency's regular 2010
    appropriation, as shown in the figure. But that represents an
    effective cut in resources relative to last year because only
    $45.2 million of last year's funding came from the regular
    appropriation, with the rest coming from the supplemental.
        As a result, if the CBO's funding for this fiscal year
    remained at the continuing resolution level, we would face a
    reduction of about 4 percent in our funds relative to last
    year. If our funding for this year is cut below the continuing
    resolution level, we would face, of course, a larger reduction
    relative to last year's resources. For example, if the CBO's
    funding was cut 5 percent below the continuing resolution
    level, we would face roughly a 9 percent cut from the funding
    provided for 2010.
        In recognition of the possibility of a cut relative to the
    continuing resolution level, we have stopped hiring, except for
    a small number of key management positions that have come open.
    We have delayed purchases of IT equipment and other things,
    purchases of data for our analysis, canceled our summer
    internship program on its paid basis, and cut back sharply on
    travel and training.
        Without new hiring, attrition will lead to a reduction in
    the size of the CBO staff. Still, because the continuing
    resolution level is already below last year's funding, a
    further significant cut relative to the continuing resolution
    level would probably require a more rapid decline in staffing
    than can be achieved through attrition alone.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        In closing, I want to thank the subcommittee for the
    support you provide to the CBO, enabling us to carry out our
    responsibilities to provide budgetary and economic information
    to the Congress.
        Thank you.
        [The statement follows:]

                   Prepared Statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee,
    thank you for the opportunity to present the Congressional Budget
    Office's (CBO) budget request for fiscal year 2012.
        The CBO's mission is to provide the Congress with objective,
    impartial analyses of budget and economic issues, including the
    information and cost estimates needed for the Congressional budget
    process. In fulfilling that mission, the CBO depends on a highly
    skilled workforce. Roughly 90 percent of the CBO's budget represents
    compensation for the agency's staff, about 5 percent is for information
    technology (IT) equipment and services, and the remainder is for
    training, office supplies, and related items. Therefore, the contours
    of the CBO's budget and the agency's staffing level are closely linked.
        The CBO's proposed budget for fiscal year 2012--$46.9 million--is
    equal to the total resources that were available to the agency 2 years
    earlier, in 2010. This proposal incorporates a scaling back of the
    multiyear staffing plan that was the basis for the agency's 2011 budget
    request. Even with a reduction in proposed staffing, supporting the
    work of the agency in 2012 with the same resources provided in 2010
    would be possible only by significantly restraining salaries and
    spending on IT. Neither of those two actions can be sustained
    indefinitely without diminishing the support that the CBO provides to
    the Congress.
        Comparing the CBO's 2012 budget request with its 2010 resources is
    complicated by the fact that the agency received a 2009 supplemental
    appropriation, which was available for fiscal year 2010 as well. In
    fact, most of it was used in 2010, and the 2010 appropriation was
    reduced to take account of the availability of those supplemental
    funds. As a result, the CBO's overall resources received little net
    boost from the supplemental appropriation, and the 2010 appropriation
    was artificially low. The CBO's request for 2012 equals the agency's
    2010 appropriation of $45.2 million plus the $1.7 million from the 2009
    supplemental appropriation that was used in 2010.

                    cbo deg.RECENT FUNDING HISTORY

        Between fiscal year 2001 and fiscal year 2008, the number of full-
    time-equivalent positions (FTEs) at the CBO averaged 230, and the
    number varied little from year to year. In 2008, however, the CBO
    became concerned that it did not have sufficient resources to analyze
    policy changes regarding the delivery and financing of healthcare that
    were emerging as a critical issue in the Congress. In addition, the
    agency was delivering an increasing number of testimonies and formal
    cost estimates and engaging in a growing amount of informal
    communications with congressional staff on a wide range of topics, so
    shifting a significant number of positions from other areas in order to
    analyze healthcare proposals did not seem feasible.
        Accordingly, the CBO proposed to the Congress a multiyear plan to
    boost the size of the agency to 259 FTEs, an increase of a little more
    than 10 percent. The Congress approved the first leg of the proposed
    increase in the CBO's fiscal year 2009 budget, and the agency averaged
    242 FTEs that year. As expected, analyzing competing healthcare
    proposals absorbed a huge share of the CBO's resources. At the same
    time, the financial crisis led to a jump in the Federal Government's
    involvement in the financial sector (including the creation of the
    Troubled Asset Relief Program, the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and
    Freddie Mac, and expanded activities of the Federal Reserve and the
    Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation), which increased congressional
    demand for analyses, budget projections, and cost estimates in that
    area. Consequently, during the course of fiscal year 2009, the Congress
    approved a 2-year supplemental appropriation of $2 million, aimed
    particularly at enhancing the CBO's ability to analyze complex health
    proposals. Of that amount, the CBO used about $0.3 million during
    fiscal year 2009 and remaining $1.7 million in 2010.
        For fiscal year 2010, the Congress approved an appropriation of
    $45.2 million for the CBO. That amount was $1.2 million less than the
    agency's request for that year, reflecting the availability of funds
    from the 2009 supplemental appropriation. The total funding of $46.9
    million--$45.2 million from the regular appropriation and $1.7 million
    from the earlier supplemental appropriation--was intended to support an
    additional 12 FTEs ``to increase CBO's capacity to analyze healthcare
    policy, financial and housing markets, and other areas of high
    Congressional interest.'' Accordingly, the CBO averaged about 250 FTEs
    during fiscal year 2010.
        For fiscal year 2011, the CBO requested $47.3 million in funding to
    support 258 FTEs, which would have essentially completed the multiyear
    increase that the agency proposed 3 years ago. The enactment last year
    of significant healthcare legislation has made the CBO's regular budget
    projections and analyses of most healthcare proposals much more complex
    and labor-intensive than had previously been the case. Moreover, the
    demand for analysis of major new healthcare proposals has abated only a
    little. In addition, the depth and duration of the economic downturn,
    as well as the surge in Federal debt and projected deficits, have led
    the Congress to ask the CBO for more analyses on a range of economic
    and budgetary issues.
        Like the rest of the Federal Government, the CBO has been
    functioning under continuing resolutions so far in fiscal year 2011.
    The funding for the CBO has been equal to the agency's regular 2010
    appropriation--but that represents an effective cut in resources,
    because only $45.2 million of the CBO's $46.9 million in 2010 funding
    came from the regular appropriation. If the CBO's funding for 2011
    remained at that continuing resolution level, the agency would have
    about $1.7 million less to work with this year than in 2010--a
    reduction of about 4 percent.
        If the CBO's funding for 2011 was cut below the continuing
    resolution level, the agency would face a larger reduction relative to
    its 2010 resources. For example, if the CBO's funding was cut 5 percent
    below the continuing resolution level, the agency would face roughly a
    9 percent total cut from the funding provided for 2010. In recognition
    of the possibility of a cut relative to the continuing resolution
    level, the CBO has stopped hiring (except for a small number of key
    management positions that have come open), is delaying purchases of IT
    equipment and other things, has canceled its paid summer internship
    program, and has cut back sharply on travel and training. Without new
    hiring, attrition will lead to a reduction in the size of the CBO
    staff. Still, because the continuing resolution level is already below
    last year's funding, a further significant cut relative to the
    continuing resolution level would probably require a more rapid decline
    in staffing than could be achieved through attrition alone and
    therefore would probably require a reduction in force.

      cbo deg.SOME DETAILS OF THE CBO'S FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET
                                    REQUEST

        In fiscal year 2012, the CBO will continue to focus on its core
    functions of providing nonpartisan budgetary and economic information
    and analyses to the Congress, including budget and economic outlook
    reports, an analysis of the President's budget, long-term budgetary
    projections, cost estimates, mandate statements, and scorekeeping
    reports. In addition, the CBO will continue to prepare in-depth
    analyses of a broad range of program and policy issues, as requested by
    committees or Members. The specific issues that the Congress will be
    addressing in 2012 will, of course, depend on circumstances at the
    time, but the CBO's analyses are likely to include work on healthcare,
    policies for increasing economic growth and employment, energy policy,
    tax reform, immigration issues, infrastructure, defense policy, the
    Government's role in financial markets, and proposals to address the
    long-term budgetary imbalance. The agency will devote effort to further
    improving its long-term analyses of legislative proposals for
    healthcare, Social Security, and broad fiscal policy changes by
    continuing to develop its budgetary and economic models.
        The CBO anticipates a workload of roughly 650 formal cost estimates
    (most of which include both estimates of Federal costs of legislation
    and assessments of the cost of mandates in the legislation that would
    affect State, local, and tribal governments or the private sector) and
    thousands of informal estimates; approximately 100 analytical reports
    along with other publications; and a substantial schedule of
    congressional testimonies. The formal estimates are just the tip of the
    iceberg because, more and more, the CBO is being asked for informal
    estimates of the budgetary impact of proposals at early stages in the
    legislative process and of potential floor amendments.
        Recognizing the stringency of the Government's budget situation,
    the CBO proposes to cut short the planned multiyear increase in the CBO
    staff and to continue with the currently budgeted number of 254 FTEs
    for fiscal year 2012. In addition, consistent with the rest of the
    Federal Government, the CBO is not providing any across-the-board
    increase in salaries for employees in calendar years 2011 or 2012 and
    has reduced the size of performance-based pay raises.
        Specifically, the CBO's request supports the following:
      --$32.2 million for personnel compensation;
      --$10.4 million for personnel benefits; and
      --$4.3 million for services, equipment, training, and supplies.
        Funding at this level would enable the CBO to continue to provide
    the kinds and quantity of estimates and analyses that the agency has
    been producing for the Congress during the past 2 years.
        In closing, I would like to thank the subcommittee for the support
    it has provided the CBO, enabling the agency to carry out its
    responsibilities to provide budgetary and economic information to the
    Congress.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        The votes were supposed to begin at 3 p.m. They have moved
    it up.
        But let me ask a couple of questions first before I go. Mr.
    Boarman, I heard from a colleague that we are now into
    paperless production of information. Therefore, we don't need a
    ``printing office.'' Perhaps we ought to consider changing the
    name of your office to something ``communications'' or whatever
    it is to avoid having that happen because, obviously, it is not
    simply about printing. Certainly not just printing on paper,
    although obviously that is one of the major things that we
    have.
        Not everybody is IT trained or able to pull everything up.
    So we are still going to be stuck with paper in some areas. Can
    you tell me what percentage of your budget might be used in
    paper communication? Is that possible?
        Mr. Boarman. Well----
        Senator Nelson. Just a rough estimate.

                        GPO deg.PRINTING COSTS

        Mr. Boarman [continuing]. Yes. Using the Congressional
    Record as an example, about 70 percent of it is the IT side, or
    the pre-press. Getting it prepared, to putting it up online
    every night so that----
        Senator Nelson. You would have that expense anyway?
        Mr. Boarman. Exactly. And so, the 30 percent left for
    printing is the smallest piece of it because once the press
    starts to run, I mean, the first impression might cost you $250
    a page. After that, it is about a penny.
        I have met with a number of Members of Congress who have
    raised the very issue you did. Actually, I had a chairman of a
    committee say, you know, I have got a bunch of new Members who
    don't like Government, and they don't understand why we have
    printing. And when I explained to him, well, do they know that
    we have the digital platform, that we produce all of the
    information electronically every night, he said, ``No, they
    don't know that.''
        So we are going to try to educate Members so that they
    understand that the GPO is the only agency that provides the
    information so that you can go paperless. Now, if you decide to
    do that, I am sure there are going to be people printing copies
    out in their office. That is the thinking that is going on.
        And when you do that, it is nearly 7 cents a page to do it
    on your office printer. We can do it for 5.5 cents a page. And
    when a document gets above 64 pages, the cost per page drops to
    4 cents a page. And we print on both sides of the page. We
    print on recycled paper. We use vegetable oil-based ink, which
    is good for the environment and saves a lot of money.
        This is last night's Congressional Record. It is about a
    half an inch thick, printed on both sides. If you printed this
    out on an office printer, it would probably be this thick at 7
    cents a copy. And so, when I talk to Members and staffs, both
    in the House and Senate, they say we don't know how we could
    function without our Congressional Record.
        Let me just give you a couple of statistics. In 1994, we
    printed 20,000 copies of the Congressional Record every day.
    Today, we only print a little more than 3,700 a day. And of
    that, the House gets 950 copies, and the Senate gets 1,100, and
    the rest are distributed to depository libraries, the White
    House, and others. We get about 30 copies in our office for
    indexing.
        So we have dropped from 20,000 to 3,700 daily copies. And
    once the press starts to run, after we have done all of the
    infrastructure of building the platform to run it, it is very
    inexpensive to continue to print small quantities. I hope that
    answers your question.
        Senator Nelson. That does. And I think we need to get that
    information out.
        I will go vote and be right back.
        Thank you.
        We will continue.
        Your fiscal year 2012 budget request totals $148.5 million.
    It is $1 million above the 2010 enacted level, and is
    relatively flat. But you have a $1.4 million for the
    Presidential Inaugural. What is your timeframe for producing
    printed materials and credentials for the 2013 Presidential
    Inauguration?
        I know you can't start up the day of the Inauguration. But
    what kind of a timeframe are we looking at here? Is it within
    the parameter that some of this could be held off until the
    following year, or is it necessary to print documents well in
    advance, which would mean that it would be included in this
    budget?

                      GPO deg.INAUGURAL PRINTING

        Mr. Boarman. Well, historically, Mr. Chairman, I think that
    for each Inauguration, the money is asked for and appropriated
    in this particular cycle. And so, I am told that it needs to be
    in this budget.
        A lot of people don't understand that the Inauguration is a
    congressional event. They think of the parade and balls. But
    the Congress pays for the actual swearing-in ceremony, and I
    think this is a small portion of what you are actually going to
    lay out. But we do credentials. We do all the invitations and
    programs. We do all the tickets and signs for entry to the area
    for the Inauguration.
        And I think at some point, the Joint Congressional
    Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies will be coming together in
    fiscal year 2012, and they will be spending money. And so, my
    understanding is, that is why it is there.
        Senator Nelson. And I hope that in putting the preparations
    together, I know it is not all your responsibility to direct.
    You have got security issues. You have got other things.
        Mr. Boarman. Right.
        Senator Nelson. This is essentially the documentation or
    anything that is related to that?
        Mr. Boarman. Right. And of course, we did do credentials
    last time. We had probably the most secure credentials in the
    history of the Inauguration, the GPO did. But my understanding
    is the Capitol Police did pay for that, and so it came out of
    the legislative branch, but it was not out of the GPO's budget.
        Senator Nelson. When it comes to Capitol improvement costs
    that are being appropriated through the revolving fund, you
    request $6.3 million for two Capitol improvement projects: one,
    FDSys at $5 million and, two, the GPO Business Information
    System at $1.3 million.
        Why are these costs separated out for a specific
    appropriation rather than being factored into and charged to
    all agencies as part of the cost of doing business?

                       GPO deg.INVESTMENT FUNDS

        Mr. Boarman. Well, these are essentially additions to
    working capital for our revolving fund, which is where our
    monies for investment come from. And we do have money in that
    fund from other agencies. For instance, the State Department
    allocates money to our capital improvement fund, but it can
    only be used, obviously, for capital improvements for passport
    issues and State Department issues.
        This digital technology is so expensive. I had a meeting
    with Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson from Missouri yesterday, and
    she is a member of the Legislative Branch Appropriations
    Subcommittee on the House side, and she also serves as chair of
    their Financial Services Subcommittee.
        And she was saying to me that the cost of this IT is just
    out of hand, and you have got to try to get a handle on it. The
    Congress has made a tremendous investment in the FDSys program.
    Probably from 1994 on, when GPO first went online, maybe $100
    million. In the last 5 years, maybe $40 million to get us to
    where we are.
        Now we have to maintain this platform as well as our Oracle
    system. We can't allow them to collapse. I am not an IT expert,
    but I have people that are, and they tell me in order for us to
    make sure that we can authenticate and do the other things that
    are necessary, this is what it is going to cost.
        Additionally, we are working in cooperation with the LOC,
    and they are helping us digitize a lot of the older documents.
    Everything from 1994 on, we have been able to digitize. But
    before that, it all has to be digitized.
        So these things are what the money is for, and in view of
    their importance to the Congress, I think it is appropriate
    that they are funded by appropriations to the revolving fund.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.

       GAO deg.GAO RESOURCES USED TO OVERSEE THE TROUBLED ASSET
                             RELIEF PROGRAM (TARP)

        Mr. Dodaro, your fiscal year 2012 budget request totals
    $556.8 million in appropriated funding, which is the same as
    the fiscal year 2010 level and totals the same level of
    staffing at 3,220 FTEs. Now, in your budget submission, we
    noted that you have an additional 25 FTEs that are reimbursed
    by the Department of the Treasury for TARP-related work.
        If you know, how much does the Department of the Treasury
    pay in reimbursement for those 25 FTEs? And perhaps, as well,
    how long will these 25 FTEs be dedicated to the TARP-related
    activities?
        Mr. Dodaro. As you will recall, when the TARP program was
    created in October 2008, it was outside of the normal
    appropriations cycle. So we never built funding for it into our
    appropriation.
        I am told here that it would be approximately $7.1 million
    in fiscal year 2011 for 30 FTEs and $5.2 million in fiscal year
    2012 for 25 FTEs that is reimbursed. Now the law requires that
    we provide reports every 60 days on the TARP program. Given the
    status of the program now, I am planning to seek legislative
    relief to provide less frequent reporting, which I think is
    appropriate given the status of the program.
        The Economic Stabilization Act requires us to audit TARP
    money until the last dollar is repaid. So we are in it for the
    long haul, until AIG and the automakers repay their loans. The
    home mortgage modification program is set to expire at the end
    of 2012, but for other entities that have to repay the money,
    it could take a significant amount of time.
        But we are hoping our costs go down, and we are also
    required to do an annual financial audit of the TARP funds,
    which we do.
        Senator Nelson. One would hope that when we are down to the
    last dollar, we wouldn't still have the need for 25 FTEs. So I
    am assuming there will be some point in time when the numbers
    become less significant and we might be able to find another
    way to do this, which wouldn't add to the total cost with a
    significant number of FTEs?
        Mr. Dodaro. I expect that figure to go down gradually as
    the money is repaid. And if I can get legislative relief from
    the 60-day reporting requirement, that would further reduce the
    costs.
        Senator Nelson. Well, keep us posted on how you are doing
    in terms of getting legislative relief because we certainly
    would be supportive of every effort to do that, recognizing
    that you are still going to have a need for a certain number.
    But hopefully, that would reduce the requirement.
        Mr. Dodaro. Yes, it would. I would note also in the Wall
    Street Reform Act that was passed last July, there were 44 new
    mandates for GAO work, and very few of those involved
    reimbursement.
        Senator Nelson. Expect that to happen in your spare time.
        Mr. Dodaro. Yes.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.

          GAO deg.METHODOLOGY BEHIND GAO'S REPORT ON PROGRAM
                           DUPLICATION--GAO-11-318SP

        We are looking at your March 1 report on redundancy in
    Government. I am going to pay close attention to it because I
    think it is important that if we are going to be cutting our
    budget we need to be aware of where there is redundancy and how
    we can root it out and save the taxpayers money. Because that
    is, at the end of the day, what we want.
        So you highlight this report. Can you tell us a little bit
    about your methodology and how you came about to actually
    producing this report? Did you consult with the CBO or the
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB)? At the end of the day we
    are all interested in the same thing, but maybe you can help me
    understand how the GAO went about doing this?
        Mr. Dodaro. We first did research on existing GAO studies
    where we had tackled this issue across the Federal Government.
    In fact, many of the items covered in the report we had already
    looked at as a result of requests from more than 60 percent of
    the committees in the Senate and in the House.
        We also looked at other reports--the CBO, the OMB, what was
    in the President's budget submission--as opportunities to
    reduce overlap and duplication. We did literature reviews on
    studies by think tanks and others to gather an inventory. We
    tapped into our institutional knowledge of the Government to do
    initial work going forward.
        The original concept was to cover the entire Federal
    Government over a 3-year period. This was our first
    installment. We are doing our planning activities right now for
    year 2 and year 3, and we are going to create a methodology to
    make sure that we cover all areas where there are potential for
    overlap and duplication.
        We also had extensive consultations with the Congress.
    While the legislation did not require us to report to specific
    committees, we focused on the Appropriation Committees, the
    Budget Committees, and our oversight committees in the
    Congress. We had extensive consultations with them to get their
    ideas and to discuss our work plans with them. I felt that we
    did a very thorough job.
        Now we also added to the report, beyond overlap,
    duplication, and fragmentation, other ideas we had about cost-
    savings opportunities and revenue enhancements to help provide
    a fuller menu for the Congress to look at, because they all
    have the same objective--how to reduce cost, and enhance
    Government revenues. And so our recommendations were based upon
    previous GAO work that we updated for the report.
        And we are also planning in future reports, Mr. Chairman,
    to include a listing of what actions were taken as a result of
    the prior year's report so there is a clear scorecard going
    forward.
        Senator Nelson. You were anticipating where I was going
    perhaps because that was my next point. It would be helpful to
    develop a scorecard because I suspect that as you went back and
    looked at other reports, some of the things that were suggested
    in the past were still not done and questions still not
    answered.
        So it would be helpful to know, as things are considered
    and as we move forward, whether or not your recommendations are
    being considered. And I am sure some of them will be
    objectionable to some folks, but not all of them. So,
    hopefully, that scorecard would help us see how we are doing in
    rooting out the redundancies.
        Mr. Dodaro. Yes, we will definitely do that.
        Senator Nelson. Dr. Elmendorf, I know you are concerned
    about making certain that we get it right with respect to your
    budget. And so, we are focused on that. I think we internally
    understand the discrepancies between numbers and years.
        So I suspect that if we don't get it quite right, we would
    ask for a CBO study to help us get that in order.
        Dr. Elmendorf. We trust you entirely, Mr. Chairman.
        Senator Nelson. In 2012, we notice that you have increased
    funding for your staff levels by 6.6 percent above fiscal year
    2010 enacted level, and you proposed to reduce funding for IT
    infrastructure by $1.2 million, or 51 percent below fiscal year
    2010 enacted.

                         CBO deg.IT RESOURCES

        While other agencies are using technology to improve their
    efficiency, you are actually cutting your IT. And I am not
    opposed to cutting. My question is what IT projects are you
    cutting, and how are you finding some efficiencies there to be
    able to do that perhaps could be shared with others as well?
        Dr. Elmendorf. I think what you are seeing there, Mr.
    Chairman, is principally a cycle in the replacement of aging
    equipment. For a number of years coming up to now, we did not
    have sufficient funds to keep up with the pace of advancing
    technology. We were able to direct a piece of our appropriated
    funds in the past few years, though, to catching up in a way.
        That is very important. One of the simple uses that we put
    that supplemental appropriation to was buying faster computers
    that could--which we could use to run our complicated models of
    the health insurance system more rapidly. So we are very
    attentive to the need to maintain high-level technology to keep
    our productivity high.
        But having made that investment now in the past few years,
    we see less need for that in the coming year or two, and we
    don't want to just buy new computers because they are new and
    out there. So we have deliberately scaled back on that. As we
    say in the budget, that is not sustainable for the long run.
    There will come a need to do that replacement later.

                        CBO deg.STAFFING LEVEL

        But in order to maintain the staffing level, which we think
    we need to provide the service we provide to the Congress, in
    the face of a competitive labor market for the people that we
    are trying to attract and retain while keeping the overall
    funding level for the agency in 2012, as we proposed it the
    same as it was in 2010, requires us to spend somewhat more on
    those people. And we have been able to do that in our proposal
    by squeezing down on the money we spend in other areas.

                        CBO deg.COST ESTIMATES

        Senator Nelson. Now you are anticipating a request for
    roughly, 650 formal cost estimates in fiscal year 2010, in
    addition to the thousands of informal estimates, and
    approximately, 100 analytical reports. If you could, help me
    understand what does it cost for a typical CBO analysis?
        Let us first take the formal request and then perhaps the
    informal. Of the formal requests, do you have sort of a
    ballpark number of what the cost is internally?
        Dr. Elmendorf. No I don't. Partly because there is a
    tremendous variation in the complexity in the cost estimates.
        Senator Nelson. And there probably is no average, right?
        Dr. Elmendorf. I think that is right. I mean, we do a lot
    of estimates that are a page or two pages. A single analyst
    might spend a few days talking to the various Government
    agencies or people in the private sector or whatever is
    necessary to learn enough to do the estimate well. So that
    would be just one analyst for a few days.
        Then we do other estimates, for example, of healthcare
    reform, where we had dozens of people working for months. So it
    is just tremendous variation. We haven't tried to calculate an
    average. I am not sure it would be very helpful.
        Senator Nelson. And in addition to having your own internal
    costs, don't you engage specialists outside to come and help
    where perhaps you don't have that level of expertise or you are
    looking for a second approach?
        Dr. Elmendorf. Yes, we do exactly that. We reach out to a
    lot of people on the outside who will help us for free. We talk
    to analysts and universities and analysts in the private
    sector, many of whom will just talk with us because they
    recognize that it is an opportunity for them to be helpful in
    important work.
        But on the other hand, there are some services we do need
    to pay for. We have a contract with actuaries. And when we do
    our work on health insurance, when we first started doing work
    on financial issues, the CBO did not have a very deep bench in
    that area. And as the Government plunged in to more and more
    large financial transactions, we initially hired some of those
    services from the outside.
        As we gained the capacity and built the capacity internally
    to deal with that, we stopped those contracts. We think, in
    many cases, over time we can acquire the knowledge ourselves,
    and that is a little cheaper. But when it is necessary for us
    to learn from outside people, we don't want to pretend we have
    all the knowledge in-house because we don't.

                      CBO deg.REQUEST FOR STUDIES

        Senator Nelson. When you are requested for a study, I know
    you have to prioritize what you currently have versus what you
    are being asked to do. Can you give me some idea of how, I am
    not asking who you put highest in priority, but how you
    prioritize, in general, other than by who is asking?
        Dr. Elmendorf. Well, so the who is asking is part of it.
    The Congressional Budget Act that established the CBO set our
    priorities as working first for the Budget Committees, then for
    the Ways and Means and Finance and Appropriations Committees,
    then for other committees and Members, to the extent time
    allows. So that does matter.
        We also try to focus on the proposals that are receiving
    the most attention in the Congress. In order to be the most
    helpful to the most Members that we can, we direct more energy
    to proposals that are moving through the legislative process
    that seem to be headed for action by committees, votes on the
    floor of the Senate or the House.
        And we consult with the Budget Committees, with the other
    main committees I mentioned, with the leadership in the Senate
    and the House on a regular basis to try to be sure that we are
    working on the projects that are most helpful. It is often hard
    to be sure what will be helpful.
        One recent example, when the House was debating on the
    floor H.R. 1, the continuing resolution, they had an open
    amendment process. I think there were more than 600 amendments
    that were filed. We produced cost estimates of more than 300 of
    them in the space of a frantic week.
        We tried to do the ones that seemed to be attracting the
    most attention among House Members. I am sure we didn't get
    that exactly right. We did the very best that we could, but the
    limitation on resources, of course, affects the amount of the
    product that we can provide to the Congress.

                     CBO deg.ENTITLEMENT ANALYSES

        Senator Nelson. Well, assuming that the Congress gets
    totally serious about dealing with entitlements and chooses to
    do all the entitlements at the same time, will your staff, at
    the current level, be able to deal with the requests that are
    going to be very obvious, such as, the analyses that are going
    to be requested for Social Security, Medicare, and perhaps on
    some other areas as well, Medicaid?
        Dr. Elmendorf. We will do our absolute best to keep up with
    the Congress. It is challenging. In the space of the last month
    or two, as we have worked on our updated baseline estimates and
    analysis of the President's budget that we will be releasing
    tomorrow, actually, we have had to put aside work on a variety
    of proposals that various committees in the Senate and the
    House wanted very much for us to move ahead on, and we told
    them that we can't do that now.
        So we are always setting priorities. We have lost a number
    of health staffers who I think basically were worn out by the
    events of the past 2 years. We have been able to hire some
    replacements. But we have stopped hiring now, given the budget
    situation. So we are leaner than I would like us to be, and I
    am more worried about that.
        But you and your colleagues should have confidence that we
    will work desperately hard to provide you what we can, given
    the resources that remain available to us.

                      CBO deg.STAFFING AND HIRING

        Senator Nelson. And that you will be totally candid about
    what your needs are at that time. Either you are adequately
    staffed for the requests, or if you are not, what the delay
    would be or what the cost to meet those requirements might be.
        Dr. Elmendorf. We try to be straightforward about that. As
    you understand, part of the problem is that one can't create
    the capacity overnight. So, for example, in the economist job
    market, much of the hiring happens in the winter. We had lined
    up a number of promising candidates to work in key areas that
    we expect the Congress to be pressing us for analysis in.
        We did not make job offers to those people. We cut that
    process off in midstream because of the uncertainty about this
    year's budget and next year's budget. It is not easy to hire
    those people now, in a sense. We have, for a number of those
    people, we basically passed on this entire annual cycle, and
    our next chance to hire many of those people will be next
    winter.
        It is just a peculiarity of the way this particular job
    market works. Other areas, we can hire more readily throughout
    the year. But even then, people don't come in with all the
    expertise usually that we need. We hire people who are
    terrifically well-trained and have various different
    experiences, but not necessarily doing the precise sort of work
    that we do.
        So we can't really ramp up overnight. And that is part of
    what concerns me is, given the freeze that we have on hiring
    now, that we will end up with attrition in areas that may not
    be--well, there is no good place, but maybe in the areas that
    would be of particular interest to the Congress. And if we
    don't have the funds to replace those people, then I am worried
    that we will not be able to do as much as we otherwise would be
    able to do.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.

            GAO deg.GAO BALANCES RESOURCES WITH PRIORITIES

        Mr. Dodaro, would that be true in your case as well with
    the accountability requirements that are constantly being asked
    from you?
        Mr. Dodaro. Definitely. Our highest priorities are
    statutory requirements, either in law, conference reports, or
    committee reports because they are an expression of a broader
    congressional interest. By law, we also have to respond to
    requests from chairs of committees where we have the competency
    to do so. We treat ranking members the same to maintain our
    nonpartisan status, and then requests from Members of Congress.
        We haven't been able to respond to a request from an
    individual Member of Congress for many years because of the
    workload demands. But when unusual circumstances come up, as in
    the case of the TARP program, I thought it was reasonable to
    ask the Congress to have that reimbursed since it was outside
    of the appropriations cycle.
        The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was a similar
    situation. The Congress gave us one-time funds of $25 million
    to help as we deployed people across the country to track the
    money.
        So when unusual requirements arise, I am not bashful in
    asking the Congress for help. Our base appropriation, if our
    request is granted, would be enough, I believe, to work with
    the committees on their highest-priority needs as we know them
    now.
        Senator Nelson. Mr. Boarman, what about yours? Obviously,
    you are affected by things that go on in the Congress. If
    priorities change or suddenly there is a workload increase, you
    are affected by that as well. How does that impact you, your
    budget, and your thinking about the future?

                         GPO deg.GPO STAFFING

        Mr. Boarman. Well, when I came onboard, Mr. Chairman, we
    had around 2,300 FTEs, and we are down to nearly 2,200. And so,
    in anticipation of a flat budget or less, we haven't hired
    anybody.
        But I am concerned on the operations side of the house
    where all the work is done and where the chargeable hours are,
    we are very, very slim in staffing. And these are the people
    that mostly work on the nightshift that come in and respond to
    the overnight needs of the Congress, and we are down to almost
    800 people in that area.
        I mentioned earlier in my testimony, we had 8,000 people
    working there when I worked there back 35 years ago. And just
    in the division that I worked in, we had 1,600. Today, we have
    800 in all of these different divisions--bindery, press,
    prepress, IT. So, obviously, I am concerned.
        But we get it. We know there is an issue, there is a
    problem here, and we are going to try to do the best we can
    with less. I have cut out all travel except what is necessary,
    and any hires have to come to me and be approved because we
    have no idea what the Congress is going to do with the budget.
    But we hope they will recognize that we are a valuable,
    valuable partner, and we provide, like Dr. Elmendorf and Mr.
    Dodaro, we provide services that I don't think anybody else
    could do for the Congress.
        I don't think you could operate, open your doors every day
    without the services we do. And I just hope that the
    Appropriations Committee will keep that in mind because we do
    work hard for you.
        Senator Nelson. Well, I will ask all three of you, is there
    something I should have asked that I haven't.
        Dr. Elmendorf. Well, Mr. Chairman, as usual, your questions
    were right on point.
        Senator Nelson. Well, thank you.
        Dr. Elmendorf. I think, I guess, the final thing I would
    say is that I think we are already doing as much as we can with
    the resources that we are provided. We strive every day to work
    hard and give the Congress the best value that we can for the
    resources we were provided with.
        And if the Congress decides that it wants a smaller CBO,
    that is, of course, the prerogative of you and your colleagues.
    But I think that should be done with an understanding that it
    will reduce the output that we can give you. There will be
    fewer cost estimates. The analyses will be less fully worked
    out. It will take longer to get things done. And obviously,
    that is what happens when one has to make hard choices about
    where to use resources.
        But I think cutbacks should not be made with a sense that
    somehow we will do more with less.
        Senator Nelson. Yes.
        Dr. Elmendorf. We are doing all we can. And I think if we
    get less, then we will, unfortunately, do less.
        Senator Nelson. Mr. Boarman.

                     GPO deg.GPO ESTIMATES OF WORK

        Mr. Boarman. Mr. Chairman, I think your first question was
    certainly the most important, and I was happy to have a chance
    to get that on the record because I think it is important.
        But beyond that, I think that what would concern me is that
    if our appropriation was so low and the Congress continued to
    order printing beyond what we were appropriated, we would still
    have to do the work. And then we would be in what is called
    deficit spending, and that is something that the Congress is
    trying to get out of.
        In our appropriations, we are asking for some additional
    money because of our estimates. We estimate what we think you
    are going to do. And it is based on historical data. If it is a
    Presidential election year, usually the Congress is in less
    than they are in a non-Presidential election year. And so, we
    make our best guess, but we are not always right. And so, when
    we come up short, we ask that we be paid for the work that we
    did.
        And so, if we estimate that you are going to print 700
    reports, and then you print 850, which I think was the case in
    the previous year, we have to print it. The law requires us to
    do that, and you require us to do that.
        So that would be the one thing if you would ask me that,
    that I would say we will do it. But at some point, it would put
    GPO in a position where the comptroller or the chief financial
    officer, who is sitting behind me, would be tapping me on the
    shoulder, saying, ``You know, we have no money to pay anybody.
    So we have to shut down.''
        And that would be a terrible thing. So I just ask you to
    keep that in mind.
        Senator Nelson. Well, thank you. You gave me an idea.
        Mr. Boarman. I didn't intend to do that.
        Senator Nelson. No, no. It just struck me that if we are in
    session less, there would be less paper, less printing, less
    work.
        Mr. Boarman. Well----
        Senator Nelson. You have to share that with the majority
    leader. As a matter of fact, if people have wanted us to give
    them less Government, this would certainly be one way to do it.
        Mr. Boarman  [continuing]. For years, I think Public
    Printers have told the Congress if you want to reduce your
    printing budget, you have to talk a little bit less.
        Senator Nelson. Never happened.
        Mr. Boarman. But that has never happened. So I mean, it is
    not up to me to decide how late the Congress stays in session
    at night. We stay there. When we see the light on in the Dome,
    we know we have got to be there all night and late into the
    morning, and we do whatever we have to do to get the
    Congressional Record and the bills and the hearings and the
    calendars and the reports.
        I get a report on my BlackBerry every morning from Lyle
    Green, who is sitting behind me, who is our Congressional
    Publishing Director, telling me we are going to be on time with
    this and we are going to be on time with that. And I go,
    ``Whew.'' Because it is so important that we do these.
        The Congress pays for it, and we want to be on time. And
    most of the times we are.

       GAO deg.GAO ASSISTANCE HELPS THE CONGRESS MAKE INFORMED
                                   DECISIONS

        Senator Nelson. And we appreciate that.
        Mr. Dodaro, anything that I haven't asked that I should
    have?
        Mr. Dodaro. At the risk of giving you another idea, I would
    venture two points. One, I certainly understand the desire of
    the Congress to lead by example in cutting their own
    operations. But I think that the magnitude of our problems and
    challenges on the fiscal front are so significant that the
    Congress also ought to be asking whether it has the proper
    information and resources to make informed, difficult choices
    in the years ahead?
        And certainly, cutting both congressional staff and the
    support office staffs is something that bears a lot of careful
    deliberation and that consequences because I think the country
    want the Congress to lead by example, but also to make really
    well-informed decisions in what is going to be a difficult
    period for everybody in the country until we can get on a more
    sustainable path.
        The second point that I would make would be that the extent
    to which we can have some sort of stability over a multiple-
    year period would really help us properly plan ahead. It is
    something I really never wanted to become an expert at, but
    managing under continuing resolutions is not an easy process.
    While I recognize that this is a difficult issue to deal with,
    I think that sort of stability would be the other idea I would
    try to leave you with.
        Senator Nelson. Well, your point is well made. In the
    absence of predictability and stability, no one could run a
    business. And the absence of that in our case makes it very
    difficult to continue to function at the level we need to. My
    hope is that we just voted for the last short-term continuing
    resolution and that the next effort at the end of this 3-week
    period we will finish out the rest of the year and the 2012
    budget we are working on right now will be treated in the
    ordinary course of business by regular order.
        And I hope that it is where we will be able to function. It
    certainly is a time when we want business to invest here at
    home. A stable Government, predictable policy, and predictable
    regulatory responses are all essential to the decisions to
    invest here. And where investment occurs is where jobs will be
    created.
        So this is why it is essential that we get out of this rut
    that we are in and just kicking the can down the road, for
    whatever purpose.

    GAO deg.GPO deg.CBO deg.ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE
                                   QUESTIONS

        [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
    were submitted to the Department for response subsequent to the
    hearing:]

                     Questions Submitted to Gene L. Dodaro
                   Questions Submitted by Senator John Hoeven

                        gao deg.GENERAL BUDGET

        Question. Considering that the Government Accountability Office
    (GAO) budget request of $556.8 million is equivalent to the fiscal year
    2010 enacted level and the current fiscal year 2011 continuing
    resolution, under which the agency has been operating for the last 5
    months, would you please tell the subcommittee what steps has GAO has
    already taken to reduce costs?
        Answer. GAO is committed to implementing cost savings and
    efficiencies without diminishing our traditionally high-quality work
    that lays the foundation for critical decisionmaking and oversight by
    the Congress. This will entail difficult tradeoffs as we face
    increasing workload demands while trying to support the staff capacity
    of 3,220 full-time equivalents we need to maintain our level of service
    to the Congress without additional resources.
        In fiscal year 2010, we reduced hiring in anticipation of limited
    funding in fiscal year 2011. In fiscal year 2011, we further reduced
    hiring and have begun implementing significant reductions across a
    broad range of programs to streamline our operations, reduce
    discretionary spending, reduce and defer investments, and leverage
    technology to help us achieve our mission more effectively and
    efficiently. These areas include:
      --limiting hiring to only replace critical staff losses;
      --reducing staff travel while leveraging other means of
            communication, including teleconference and video-conference
            capabilities, whenever practical;
      --limiting contracts related to congressional engagements to those
            that obtain critical subject or technical expertise;
      --limiting external training opportunities to staff who represent the
            GAO at professional forums or necessary to meet certain
            professional certification requirements, such as State bar
            requirements;
      --deferring some security clearance upgrades for employees and
            contract staff;
      --reducing the cost of operating our facility, including energy
            consumption;
      --reducing contract support in information technology and other
            sensitive areas;
      --deferring technology enhancements which would improve staff
            efficiency; and
        deferring investments in critical infrastructure programs to
    improve aging building systems.
        Question. What percentage of GAO's budget covers staffing? How will
    reduced funding in fiscal year 2011 and 2012 impact support of
    congressional requests?
        Answer. As a knowledge-based organization, about 80 percent of
    GAO's budget funds staff compensation and benefits with the balance of
    our budget funding mandatory operating expenses, such as operating
    costs for our headquarters and field facilities, security services, and
    other critical infrastructure services required for ongoing operations.
        While difficult, reducing our costs is necessary to fulfill our
    goal to balance efficiency and productivity in a tight budget
    environment. Despite the added challenges, at a fiscal year 2010
    funding level GAO will still be able to meet the highest-priority
    congressional needs in a timely manner. We will outreach to the
    Congress to understand and set priorities to ensure that we focus on
    the most important issues for congressional oversight. However, if GAO
    is funded below the requested fiscal year 2010 funding level, it would
    negatively impact our ability to provide timely GAO to the range of
    congressional requests and mandates, increase the length of time it
    takes us to staff requested assignments, diminish our capacity to
    conduct engagements, increase the number of pending requests, and
    adversely impact our ability to effectively assist the Congress in
    addressing the broad array of challenges facing the Nation.
        Question. How many legislative mandates requiring GAO to do work
    have been written into law in the past year and how many individual
    legislative requests have been sent directly to GAO? Is this an
    increase or decrease over the previous year?
        Answer. Over the last 4 years, the number of congressional requests
    and legislative mandates averages almost 1,100 annually. In fiscal year
    2010, GAO received 979 congressional requests, including 173
    legislative mandates and 806 requests from committees, subcommittees,
    and Members requesting GAO to do work. In fiscal year 2010, the number
    of new legislatively mandated studies increased by more than 30 percent
    more than the prior fiscal year.
        We have identified a number of legislative mandates that we believe
    need to be modified or repealed. For example, many of the mandates
    impose recurring reporting requirements on GAO. We are outreaching to
    the appropriate committees to discuss the potential for legislative
    relief from these mandates. Eliminating these mandates would conserve
    resources while preserving the option for congressional committees to
    request GAO work in areas covered by the specific mandates.

                      gao deg.DUPLICATION REPORT

        Question. How does the first annual GAO report on ``Opportunities
    to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs, Save Tax
    Dollars, and Enhance Revenue''--the ``duplication report''--differ from
    the High-Risk Series that the GAO has issued on a biennial basis since
    1990? Is the new report a duplication of effort on the part of GAO?
        Answer. The two reports have very different purposes. The primary
    purpose of the ``duplication report'' is to identify Federal programs
    or functional areas where unnecessary duplication, overlap, or
    fragmentation exists, the actions needed to address such conditions,
    and the potential financial and other benefits of doing so. From our
    prior work, we also highlighted other areas of potential cost savings
    or enhanced revenues. In contrast, the biennial high-risk report
    identifies Government operations that are at high risk due to their
    greater vulnerabilities to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or
    the need for transformation to address economy, efficiency, or
    effectiveness challenges. There are a limited number of areas
    identified in both reports as an opportunity to reduce potential
    duplication and as a high risk based upon one body of work. An example
    is food safety oversight which is highly fragmented. In addition, the
    current system has caused inconsistent oversight, ineffective
    coordination, and inefficient use of resources.
        We prepared GAO's first annual report to the Congress in answer to
    a statutory requirement included in the public debt limit increase that
    GAO identify Federal programs, agencies, offices, and initiatives,
    either within Departments or Government-wide, which have duplicative
    goals or activities. The Congress asked GAO to conduct this work and to
    report annually on our findings. This work will inform Government
    policymakers as they address the rapidly building fiscal pressures
    facing our national government. GAO's most recent update of its annual
    simulations of the Federal Government's fiscal outlook underscores the
    need to address the long-term sustainability of the Federal
    Government's fiscal policies.
        In the report, we included 81 areas for consideration based on the
    GAO's prior and ongoing work. We presented 34 areas where agencies,
    offices, or initiatives have similar or overlapping objectives or
    provide similar services to the same populations; or where Government
    missions are fragmented across multiple agencies or programs. These
    areas span a range of Government missions:
      --agriculture;
      --defense;
      --economic development;
      --energy;
      --general government;
      --health;
      --homeland security;
      --international affairs; and
      --social services.
        Within and across these missions, this report touches on hundreds
    of Federal programs, affecting virtually all major Federal departments
    and agencies. Overlap and fragmentation among Government programs or
    activities can be harbingers of unnecessary duplication. Reducing or
    eliminating duplication, overlap, or fragmentation could potentially
    save billions of tax dollars annually and help agencies provide more
    efficient and effective services. The areas identified in the report
    are not intended to represent the full universe of duplication,
    overlap, or fragmentation within the Federal Government. We will
    continue to identify additional issues in future reports.
        Given today's fiscal environment, we also presented 47 additional
    areas--beyond those directly related to duplication, overlap, or
    fragmentation--describing other opportunities for agencies or the
    Congress to consider taking action that could either reduce the cost of
    Government operations or enhance revenue collections for the Treasury.
    These cost savings and revenue opportunities also span a wide range of
    Federal Government agencies and mission areas.
        In 1990, we began our high-risk program to highlight long-standing
    challenges facing the Federal Government. Historically, we designated
    high-risk areas based on their increased susceptibility to fraud,
    waste, abuse, and mismanagement. As the program has evolved, we have
    increasingly used the high-risk designation to draw attention to the
    need for broad-based transformation to achieve greater efficiency,
    effectiveness, accountability, and sustainability of key Government
    programs and operations. This effort, supported by the Senate Committee
    on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the House Committee
    on Oversight and Government Reform, has brought much-needed focus to
    problems impeding effective Government and costing billions of dollars
    each year. To help improve these high-risk operations, GAO has made
    hundreds of recommendations and the administration and agencies have
    addressed, or are addressing, many of them and the Congress continues
    to take actions that are important to helping resolve high-risk issues.
        In the past two decades, attention to high-risk areas has brought
    results. More than one-third of the areas previously designated as high
    risk have been removed from the list because sufficient progress was
    made to address problems. Further, progress had been made in nearly all
    of the areas that remain on GAO's list as a result of congressional
    oversight and action, high-level administration attention, efforts of
    the responsible agencies, and support from GAO through our many
    recommendations and consistent follow-up on the implementation of
    recommended actions. In three areas--strategic human capital
    management, managing Federal real property, and Department of Defense
    support infrastructure management--progress has been sufficient for GAO
    to narrow the scope of the high-risk issue. However, additional
    progress is both possible and needed in all 30 high-risk areas to save
    billions of dollars more and further improve the performance of Federal
    programs and operations.
        Question. If the Congress and the executive branch have not had
    ample time to address the issues detailed in the first report, and
    policy and funding changes have not been fully implemented, is it
    reasonable to assume that GAO will be able to produce a valuable
    duplication report on an annual basis?
        Answer. Yes. The original concept was to cover the entire Federal
    Government over a 3-year period. We are currently planning activities
    for year 2 and year 3. We plan to create a methodology to ensure that
    we cover all areas where there is a potential for overlap and
    duplication. Also, future reports will include a listing of the actions
    taken as a result of the prior year's report and actions that remain
    open.
        Question. What are the costs to GAO for compiling each of these
    reports? If committees and Members of Congress are going to continue to
    ask GAO to produce these reports, and at the same time provide reduced
    funding for the agency, it would be helpful to know the general cost
    associated with producing a report so that we might re-evaluate and
    streamline our own requests.
        Answer. As a knowledge-based organization, GAO's most significant
    resource is its staff. As a result, GAO manages engagements based on
    the staffing resources needed to conduct the engagement rather than
    applying a dollar or budget figure to represent the engagement's cost.
    In addition, we allocate staff resources and measure our performance by
    strategic goal rather than by engagement, as described in our annual
    ``Performance and Accountability Report''. It should be noted that the
    data GAO collects and analyzes when conducting its work is often used
    on multiple engagements and because there are so many engagements that
    share data, it would not be cost-effective--or perhaps even possible--
    to accurately isolate the cost of any particular engagement.
        To produce these reports we draw upon an extensive body of work
    across GAO, including ongoing and previously completed work. The body
    of work used in this effort was performed for a wide variety of
    committees and subcommittees in both chambers, including more than 60
    percent of the committees in the House and more than 60 percent of the
    committees in the Senate. Our first report on overlap and duplication
    also included updates to prior GAO work and recommendations, and in
    some cases, required that we complete ongoing work or conduct new work
    to identify what additional actions agencies may need to take and the
    Congress may wish to consider, and considered the work of other
    agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget and the
    Congressional Budget Office.
        Question. What are the benefits to GAO of compiling these reports?
    What sort of return does GAO's work generate for the taxpayer?
        Answer. As a result of the information contained in the GAO's first
    annual report on duplication and overlap, the Federal Government has
    the opportunity to save tens of billions of tax dollars annually by
    reducing or eliminating unnecessary duplication, overlap, or
    fragmentation and by addressing the other cost-saving and revenue-
    enhancing opportunities contained in the report.
        Solutions to high-risk problems offer the potential to save
    billions of dollars, dramatically improve service to the public, and
    strengthen confidence and trust in the performance and accountability
    of the U.S. Government. In fiscal year 2010, we issued 151 reports,
    delivered 67 testimonies to the Congress, and prepared several other
    products, such as briefings and presentations, related to our high-risk
    work. In addition, we documented nearly $27 billion in financial
    benefits and 522 nonfinancial benefits related to high-risk areas.
    These results are based on reviews spanning a wide range of issues such
    as implementing and transforming the Department of Homeland Security,
    revamping Federal oversight of food safety, executing the 2010 Census,
    and managing Federal real property.

                       gao deg.GAO FIELD OFFICES

        Question. When GAO's field offices were established in the 1950s,
    there may have been a real need for setting these up around the country
    because of the limited ability to travel, the costs associated with
    travel, and the inability to gather and share information as easily and
    quickly as we can now in this instant communication age. Is it still
    necessary for GAO to maintain 11 field offices?
        Answer. As telecommunications, transportation, and access to
    information has improved, GAO has reduced the number of field locations
    from 43 to 11. We believe 11 offices are needed at this time. We
    periodically assess our field structure and believe it is appropriate
    to maintain field office locations to do original data collection and
    provide first-hand information on Federal activities and expenditures
    around the country. This information is obtained through direct
    observation, interviews, inspections, and examination of activities
    where the action takes place and Federal funds are spent.
        GAO's strategic plan for 2010 to 2015 discusses challenges facing
    the Nation and issues we plan to address over the next 5 years.
    Together with its headquarters' office, the GAO's field structure
    provides excellent coverage of Federal expenditures on such areas as
    national defense operations; protecting the homeland by securing ports,
    borders, and critical assets; management of the Nation's natural
    resources; and hundreds of billions of dollars in Federal aid to States
    and localities through programs that provide medical assistance,
    education, child nutrition, income support, and highway investment.
    Illustrative examples follow:
      --Much of GAO's national security work is conducted at military
            facilities, such as the Aeronautical Systems Center (Air Force
            Materiel Command) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton,
            Ohio, which manages most major Air Force aircraft programs. Our
            Norfolk staff recently completed work at naval commands in
            Virginia such as the Aegis Training Center in Dahlgren,
            Virginia and the U.S. Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk,
            Virginia. In addition, Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama
            is home to the Army Aviation and Missile Command, the Army
            Aviation Research, Development, and Engineering Center, the
            Missile Defense Agency, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight
            Center, and minutes away from our Huntsville field office.
      --A majority of our Customs and Border Protection work is performed
            in the field. For example, our Los Angeles office offers easy
            access to the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Nations'
            top two ports. It also is proximate to the Mexican border,
            where much enforcement and interdiction activity is focused.
      --A large portion of GAO's healthcare work is done in our field
            office locations. For example, our Atlanta staff is currently
            performing work at the Centers for Disease Control,
            headquartered in Atlanta.
      --GAO field staff conduct critical work in our western field offices
            that are proximate to numerous facilities where nuclear weapons
            development, nuclear cleanup, and other activities are subject
            to GAO reviews occur. Maintaining a core group of GAO staff at
            these field offices that has the necessary security clearances
            to access sites and that has knowledge of associated programs,
            allows the agency to accomplish its work more efficiently and
            help inform multiple engagements simultaneously.
      --Most of GAO's oil and gas development and other work on Federal
            lands occurs in the Western States; having staff positioned in
            Denver, San Francisco, and Seattle has allowed us easy access
            to these areas and to Federal and State offices and officials
            who manage these programs. Ongoing work on oil and gas
            development in the Gulf of Mexico has also benefited from the
            participation of GAO staff in Dallas.
        Moreover, the ability to draw and retain top talent in locations
    with less competition for that talent than in Washington, DC allows the
    GAO to maintain a highly skilled, diverse workforce that lives and
    works where the Congress' constituents live and work. This provides the
    GAO the opportunity to recruit from a large pool of academic
    institutions, bringing diverse perspectives to our work from many
    regions of the country.
        In addition, GAO field staff partner with their accountability
    professional colleagues through the intergovernmental audit forums
    across the country with State and local auditors. This allows GAO to
    develop local, State, and Federal geographically dispersed networks to
    share information and best practices from all levels of government.
    These relationships were extremely beneficial when conducting our
    American Recovery and Reinvestment Act work as we quickly deployed
    field staff to cover 16 States for a 2-year period. These already
    established networks provided quick access to the organizational
    entities we needed to engage and allowed strong collaboration across
    the multiple layers of government.
        Question. Would there be any savings realized by GAO if any, or
    all, of the field offices were eliminated? Or would eliminating the
    field offices increase the travel costs for employees?
        Answer. GAO has not done a recent analysis to determine what if any
    savings could be realized through closure of some or all of the field
    offices. In order to continue to provide the same level of service to
    the Congress in future years, GAO would need to maintain our staff
    capacity, which includes subject matter expertise housed in our field
    locations. Theoretically, we would continue to incur the same types of
    costs whether staff are located in the field or in headquarters and
    could potentially increase travel costs as a result of closing offices
    in close proximity to many sites that we visit to conduct our work.
        GAO periodically revisits our field structure, resulting in
    multiple realignments over the years, specifically undertaking a number
    of initiatives to realign our field structure in response to changing
    conditions and workloads. The overriding goal of these initiatives has
    been to realize long-term efficiencies in the way we do our work. Most
    recently, we have taken actions to maximize efficiencies and reduce the
    costs of travel to maintain our current field structure (e.g.,
    increased videoconferencing capability, virtual meetings, Internet
    Protocol television (IPTV), document sharing through technology,
    centralized training hubs, and e-learning.) With these cost-saving
    initiatives, coupled with the mission-related benefits, we believe that
    the decision to maintain our field structure is well supported.
        Question. I understand that GAO has established a field presence in
    Iraq and is working with the State Department on similar activities in
    support of its work in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Why is it necessary
    for GAO to have a permanent presence in these countries? How many staff
    will be stationed in these locations? Does GAO receive any
    reimbursement from the State Department for these activities?
        Answer. We currently have three long-term temporary duty staff
    stationed in the International Zone in Baghdad, Iraq. We plan to
    continue this level of presence into fiscal year 2012. The staff work
    on multiple GAO engagements related to U.S. military and civilian
    activities and afford us a firm oversight presence in the country that
    has been supported by numerous Members of Congress. We believe it is
    critical to have a limited number of GAO staff on the ground in Iraq to
    effectively carry out GAO's mission and to serve the broad interests of
    the Congress. The State Department and the Chiefs of Mission have
    afforded GAO excellent support and cooperation in our efforts to access
    the necessary data, facilities, and representatives of the Government
    of Iraq and other program implementers in Iraq. Our presence in Iraq is
    further necessary to address recent congressional mandates to assess
    the campaign plan for Iraq, review the effect of drawing down resources
    in Iraq, and evaluate contracting activities there.
        We are currently planning on establishing a presence in Afghanistan
    to meet congressional mandates and interests in the region. As is the
    case in Iraq, we believe having staff on the ground will allow us to
    establish the relationships and have ready access to information and
    people to be more responsive to concerns raised by the Congress. As in
    Iraq, we have congressional mandates to assess United States progress
    toward achieving goals in the integrated civilian-military plan and to
    evaluate contracting activities in Afghanistan. Having a presence in
    Afghanistan will enable us to leverage multiple GAO engagements related
    to United States military operational activities, civilian agency
    programs, and contract oversight of billions of dollars invested in
    Afghanistan.
        In late 2009, we requested State Department support in establishing
    a five-person temporary duty presence in Kabul, Afghanistan. We are
    currently awaiting State Department's approval of our request.
        We continue to conduct engagements in Pakistan, but we have no
    plans to establish a long-term presence at this time.
        The GAO does not receive any reimbursement from the State
    Department for these activities.
                                     ______

                   Questions Submitted to William J. Boarman
                   Questions Submitted by Senator John Hoeven

              gpo deg.CONGRESSIONAL PRINTING AND BINDING

        Question. Of the requested increase for congressional printing and
    binding, $1.39 million is required to reimburse the Government Printing
    Office (GPO) for services it provided to the Congress in fiscal year
    2009 beyond the funding that was appropriated for this account. Why was
    the estimated cost to cover congressional printing not sufficient to
    cover expenses in fiscal year 2009? Does a shortfall of this nature
    happen often?
        Answer. The estimated cost was not sufficient because the volume of
    printing required was underestimated. Based on past trends, GPO
    estimated that in fiscal year 2009, the volume of hearings would be
    about 263,000 pages and the volume of bills, resolutions, and
    amendments would be about 131,000 pages. The actual volumes were
    substantially higher, a total of 311,350 pages of hearings and 183,000
    pages of bills, resolutions, and amendments were required. There are
    often estimating variances in this account because GPO does not control
    the actual volume of work required to be performed. If a shortfall
    occurs, GPO is obligated to perform the work and temporarily finance
    the shortfall through its revolving fund. GPO will then seek to have
    the shortfall funded in a subsequent appropriation.
        Question. Almost $3 million of the requested increase for
    congressional printing and binding is attributed to estimated volume
    increases in some work categories, offset by decreases in other
    categories. How does GPO calculate the estimation for congressional
    printing and binding when formulating its budget request?
        Answer. The estimation is based on actual historical data for the
    specific categories of congressional work in past congressional session
    years and any known special printing requirements for the budget year.
    For example, in fiscal year 2012, obligations for the 2013 Presidential
    Inaugural will be incurred.

        gpo deg.SALARIES AND EXPENSES OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF
                                   DOCUMENTS

        Question. I understand that $500,000 of the requested increase for
    salaries and expenses of the Superintendent of Documents is needed for
    legacy systems migration and modernization, and historical digitization
    projects that have been approved by the Joint Committee on Printing in
    collaboration with the Library of Congress (LOC). Please describe for
    the subcommittee the legacy systems and historical digitization
    projects that would benefit from this funding. What is the plan for
    digitizing legacy collections of Federal publications? If the
    subcommittee is not able to provide the requested funding in fiscal
    year 2012, what is the impact to these projects?
        Answer. The GPO is migrating five critical legacy systems that are
    not currently supportable to a modern sustainable architecture (the
    Depository Distribution Information; Acquisitions, Classification, and
    Shipment Information; Automated Depository Distribution; Item Lister;
    and Amendment to Item Selection systems). This is called the Library
    Information System Transformation (LIST) Project, and it is part of an
    ongoing effort for system modernization that has been funded in the
    past. Approximately $400,000 is needed to complete the migration. An
    additional $100,000 is required to support an ongoing collaboration
    with the LOC to digitize historic printed issues of the Congressional
    Record dating to 1873. Lack of funding will result in project delays,
    and where legacy systems are concerned, will prolong the vulnerability
    of these dated systems to malfunction or breakdown.
        Question. Of the requested increase, $304,000 is for the annual
    operating costs of the Federal Digital System (FDSys). Is this an
    increase from previous annual operating costs? If so, why has this cost
    increased?
        Answer. The increase is attributable to necessary support tasks
    that were not initiated in fiscal year 2011, including support for
    parsers, applications, and developmental tools that has not been
    contracted for in fiscal year 2011. The GPO anticipates that an
    additional $304,000 will be required to support FDSys to enhance
    permanent public access and ensure system availability.

                        gpo deg.REVOLVING FUND

        Question. I understand that $5 million is included in the fiscal
    year 2012 budget request to continue the development of the FDSys. How
    much has been spent to date on getting this new system up and running?
    How much additional funding is necessary to complete the installation
    of this system? When it is completed, what is the anticipated annual
    cost of maintaining FDSys?
        Answer. FDSys is the successor system to GPO Access, our original
    Web site, which began operations in 1994 and provided free online
    access to information from the Congress, Federal agencies, and the
    courts. FDSys provides free public access to the same range of
    information and features state-of-the-art content management and
    information search and retrieval systems that meet the needs of today
    Government information users. Through February 2011, total spending on
    FDSys has been approximately $43.6 million, and the GPO has completed
    release 1 of the system, which fully replaces GPO Access, including a
    failover continuity of operations capability. Release 2, which is the
    submission functionality of the system, is currently being developed.
    The costs of this work are expected to increase total system
    development costs to between $45 million and $50 million. In addition,
    annual operating costs are anticipated to be $3.25 million, including
    licensing, staffing, and system refresh costs (these costs are
    anticipated to decrease to the extent we can transfer contractor
    functions to the GPO staff). Future developmental costs, which are
    optional, could potentially reach $4.75 million annually. The funding
    requested for fiscal year 2012 is to complete development of release 2
    and help support annual operating cost requirements.
                                     ______

                  Questions Submitted to Douglas W. Elmendorf
                   Questions Submitted by Senator John Hoeven

                       cbo deg.DECREASE FUNDING

        Question. While I appreciate the fact that the Congressional Budget
    Office (CBO) has presented a budget request for fiscal year 2012 that
    represents no change from the funding level provided in fiscal year
    2010, if the subcommittee is not able to provide the full funding
    request for fiscal year 2012, what would be the impact to the CBO?
        Answer. The impact of a budget reduction in 2012 would depend on
    the magnitude of the reduction. If it were modest, CBO would try to
    accommodate that reduction in ways that did not significantly affect
    the amount of information and analysis we provide to the Congress. As a
    first step, CBO would reduce its nonpay spending--primarily for
    information technology--as much as possible without degrading necessary
    support requirements. But more than 90 percent of CBO's budget
    represents compensation for the agency's staff. (About 5 percent is for
    IT equipment and services, and the remainder is for training, printing,
    furniture, office supplies, and related items.) Therefore, a
    significant reduction in the agency's budget would necessitate a
    downsizing of CBO staff--preferably by attrition--but under some
    scenarios, layoffs might be necessary.
        Because the demand for CBO's analysis by the Congress already far
    exceeds the agency's current ability to provide it, reducing staffing
    could slow the production of cost estimates and mandate statements for
    pending legislation, delay analyses of large-scale budget proposals,
    limit the types and complexity of analyses the agency could undertake,
    reduce the number and scope of alternative legislative provisions the
    agency could examine, and decrease the number of amendments to bills on
    the floor of the House and Senate for which estimates can be generated.
    CBO would prioritize requirements to meet the most critical efforts
    required for the Congress to accomplish its mission. However,
    downsizing accomplished through little or no new hiring to replace
    departing staff would probably result in an allocation of staff that
    was not well-matched to Congress's needs.

                      cbo deg.IMPACT ON ANALYSES

        Question. What can the Congress do to change its requirements and
    expectations of the analyses that CBO provides, given the fact that we
    may have to decrease funding for the agency?
        Answer. Both the timeliness and the quantity of CBO's products
    could be affected. The agency would work closely with the budget
    committees to identify the ways to adjust CBO's output so as to
    maintain the most support possible for the congressional budget
    process.
        As specified by the Congressional Budget Act, much of CBO's work is
    for committees. They might need to allow more time between when bills
    are marked up and when they are reported in order to obtain CBO cost
    estimates and mandate statements for reported bills. (Those are
    required by the Congressional Budget Act.) Committees might seek less
    analytical support in drafting legislation in the form of fewer
    requests for cost estimates for alternative policy proposals and for
    broad policy studies--and they might need to allow for greater
    turnaround time on such work. The preparation of testimony is very time
    consuming; the CBO might need to limit testimony to the highest-
    priority requests.
        When feasible, the CBO also tries to respond to requests for
    information from individual Members. If the CBO were smaller, Members
    would need to anticipate that fewer of those requests could be
    addressed. The CBO also has been doing more and more estimates for
    floor amendments; the leadership and the Budget Committees might need
    to allow more time for such estimates or allow for the fact that the
    CBO might be able to prepare fewer such estimates in the short time
    that is usually available.

                              SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

        Senator Nelson. So I appreciate very much your answers and
    your proposals. Obviously, we are going to continue to try to
    work together to get this done in a fair and appropriate way.
        So thank you all.
        With that, we are recessed. Thank you.
        [Whereupon, at 3:58 p.m., Thursday, March 17, the hearing
    was concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
    subject to the call of the Chair.]

             LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011

                                           U.S. Senate,
               Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The subcommittee met at 2:31 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
    Senate Office Building, Hon. Ben Nelson (chairman) presiding.
        Present: Senator Nelson.

                              LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

    STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES H. BILLINGTON, LIBRARIAN OF
                CONGRESS
    ACCOMPANIED BY:
            ROBERT DIZARD JR., CHIEF OF STAFF
            DANIEL P. MULHOLLAN, DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL RESEARCH SERVICE
            MARIA PALLANTE, ACTING REGISTER OF COPYRIGHTS, COPYRIGHT OFFICE

                    OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEN NELSON

        Senator Nelson. The subcommittee will come to order.
        Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome.
        We meet this afternoon to take the testimony on the fiscal
    year 2012 budget request for the Library of Congress (LOC) and
    the Open World Leadership Center (OWLC).
        Senator Hoeven may be able to join us later, but he asked
    that we go ahead and proceed. And I hope to be joined by maybe
    one or the other of the other members of the subcommittee this
    afternoon as well.
        I want to welcome our witnesses today--Dr. James
    Billington, the Librarian of Congress and Ambassador John
    O'Keefe, Executive Director of the OWLC. It's always good to
    have you gentlemen here, and we look forward to hearing from
    you. It would be helpful if you could keep your statements
    brief, about 5 minutes, and we'll accept the rest of your
    testimony for the record.
        One thing we established at our first two hearings, and I
    think it bears repeating, is that we're in no position to
    entertain increases to the legislative branch budget this year.
    As you know, the fiscal year 2011 appropriations process has
    proven to be quite a challenge, as we find ourselves more than
    half the way through the fiscal year without a bill. And I
    don't imagine fiscal year 2012 is going to be an easy task for
    us, or an easy year for us, either. We're looking for your
    guidance in helping us to address your agencies' needs in 2012,
    but this is not the year for the ``nice to haves''. Senator
    Hoeven and I have looked forward to working with you in this
    regard, and we hope that we can create a partnership.
        Dr. Billington, I want to welcome you and your Chief of
    Staff, Robert Dizard Jr. On behalf of the subcommittee I want
    to thank you for your service as the Librarian of Congress for
    the last 23 years. Your service in this capacity is highly
    commendable, and is greatly appreciated.

               LOC deg.ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF DAN MULHOLLAN

        I also want to take a moment to acknowledge Dan Mulhollan,
    Director of the Congressional Research Service (CRS), who's
    retiring this week--or next--after 42 years of service to the
    Congress. Dan joined the LOC in 1969 and has served as the
    Director of CRS since 1994. Prior to that he led CRS' efforts
    on issues such as the Watergate hearings, and a number of
    congressional reform efforts before becoming chief of CRS'
    Government Division in 1991.
        On behalf of this subcommittee I want to thank Dan for his
    invaluable service to the Congress, and to wish him all the
    best in his future endeavors.
        And I know that Dr. Billington is going to get that very
    last minute out of you before you leave. Please stand.
        Let's recognize Dan. Thank you.
        The LOC's fiscal year 2012 request totals $660.7 million,
    an increase of $23.3 million, or 3.6 percent more than the
    fiscal year 2010 enacted level. I understand that part of this
    increase is for information technology (IT) security
    enhancements totaling $2.75 million, and five additional full-
    time equivalents (FTEs) for LOC.
        You're also requesting an increase of $4.6 million and 17
    additional FTEs for CRS.
        I also want to welcome Ambassador O'Keefe of the OWLC. Your
    budget request totals $12.6 million, an increase of $600,000,
    or 5 percent more than the current year. I strongly support the
    work of OWLC, and look forward to hearing your testimony, as
    well.
        Now we'll turn to Dr. Billington for his opening statement,
    followed by Ambassador O'Keefe.

                 SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. JAMES H. BILLINGTON

        Dr. Billington. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. And
    thank you for recognizing Dan Mulhollan's extraordinary record
    of leadership.
        I should also point to one other person who hasn't appeared
    before--the Acting Register of Copyrights, Maria Pallante, who
    is here and is doing a wonderful job, as we look for new
    permanent leadership in both CRS and the Copyright Office.
        Mr. Chairman, the Congress of the United States has been
    the greatest patron of a library in the history of the world.
    All of us at LOC are deeply grateful that for the last 211
    years the Congress has created, sustained, and instructed its
    library through good times and bad. Thanks to the Congress,
    this institution has become, first of all, the world's largest
    collection of knowledge in almost all languages and formats;
    second, the closest thing we have to a mint record of American
    private sector creativity; and, third, the leading American
    public institution in both preserving information on the
    Internet and sharing collections online.
        LOC embodies key ideals on which this Nation was founded--
    the rights of a free people to have unfettered access to the
    world's knowledge, to the record of our citizens' creativity,
    as well as material incentives for innovation. In this
    information age, what LOC is doing and can do for the United
    States of America is more important than ever. Our budget
    request for fiscal year 2012, Mr. Chairman, is designed to
    maximize our contribution to America and minimize the cost.
        Serving the Congress is LOC's top priority. And of course,
    CRS has--for almost a century--embodied the distinctive
    American ideal of a knowledge-based democracy. CRS serves the
    Congress exclusively, providing objective nonpartisan
    information and analysis for the first branch of Government,
    which also makes extensive use of our law library.
        In this time of rapid global change, both America's
    international economic competitiveness and our national
    security depend increasingly on knowledge and information drawn
    from every part of the globe. And that's precisely what you
    have in LOC--it's the mother lode of the Nation's strategic
    information reserve, increasingly essential for the successful
    work of the Congress and other Government agencies. Even as we
    speak, our Cairo office is systematically sending us the
    pictures, pamphlets, and social messaging of the current
    uprisings in the Middle East.
        LOC is making a unique contribution to education throughout
    America, and currently delivering--free of charge on the
    Internet--24.5 million items, mostly primary documents of
    American history and culture. We have also now begun to include
    in our widely used Web services similarly unique documents with
    expert comment from other world cultures, with authoritative
    commentary in seven languages, working with many of our 120
    partner institutions from all over the United States and the
    world. We're also working with more than 185 other U.S.
    partners from 44 States and 37 other national libraries in our
    congressionally mandated program for digital preservation.
        Almost all LOC programs provide one-of-a-kind national
    resources and services, services that no one else in either our
    public or private sectors arguably can reasonably be expected
    to replicate if we were to stop doing them.

                 LOC deg.ADDRESSING FISCAL CHALLENGES

        Mr. Chairman, we want to address responsibly, at the same
    time, the massive fiscal challenges posed by the Federal
    deficit. For a number of years now, we've been submitting
    constrained budgets for which the committees have commended us.
    And, if we set aside the normal inflationary pay and price
    level increases that all Government agencies request, our 2012
    budget request would include less than 1 percent for our only
    two program increases in CRS and cybersecurity.
        Even under a best-case budget outlook, funding at the
    fiscal year 2010 level for both fiscal years 2011 and 2012
    would result in an effective budget cut of more than $31
    million, or 4.8 percent against the fiscal year 2010 base. This
    alone would require substantial program and staff sacrifices.
    And some of the reduction scenarios currently being proposed
    could cut to the bone and require us to take steps that not
    even past wars and depressions have forced the LOC to consider
    in its 211-year history.
        If faced with major cuts, we would have to ask ourselves
    where we should cut the core programs. In our de-acidification
    of brittle books and manuscripts that will then become
    unusable? In our cataloging and standards services for the
    Nation, that will increase the burden on already strained local
    and State libraries? In providing fewer books and magazine
    titles free to 800,000 blind and physically handicapped
    Americans, who generally read much more than sighted people?
        If we cut back our public services significantly, Mr.
    Chairman, we would reluctantly also have to consider
    furloughing or cutting back on personnel. Our dedicated,
    experienced, and multitalented staff account for 63 percent of
    LOC's overall budget, and 89 percent of CRS'. LOC is now doing
    far more work than in 1992, but with 1,076 fewer people on our
    staff, and half of those reductions have occurred just in the
    last 5 years.

                              PREPARED STATEMENTS

        In conclusion, I should say we are also critically
    dependent on sustaining the successful collections storage
    program at Fort Meade and ask for your approval of funds for
    construction of Module 5, which is included in the Architect of
    the Capitol's budget.
        America's oldest Federal cultural institution, Mr.
    Chairman, has become part of the infrastructure for innovative
    American leadership in the information age.
        I thank you again for your historic support of the LOC, and
    for your consideration of our fiscal year 2012 request.
        [The statements follows:]

                 Prepared Statement of Dr. James H. Billington

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee: I am
    pleased to present the Library of Congress' (LOC) fiscal 2012 budget
    request.
        The Congress of the United States has been the greatest patron of a
    library in the history of the world. Mr. Chairman, all of us at LOC are
    deeply grateful for the Congress's support over the last 211 years.
        What the Congress created, sustained, and instructed its library to
    undertake through good times and bad has made this institution into--
      --the world's largest collection of knowledge in almost all languages
            and formats;
      --the closest thing to a mint record of American private sector
            creativity and innovation; and
      --the leading American public institution in both capturing transient
            information on the Internet and sharing our collections online.
        In presenting our budget request for fiscal 2012, Mr. Chairman, I
    propose to answer three big questions that we have asked of ourselves--
    and that you might well wish to ask of us at this time of so many
    pressing national concerns: What does LOC do that is important for the
    United States of America?
        LOC embodies key ideals on which this Nation was founded:
      --the right of a free people to have unfettered access to knowledge;
      --the necessity for a productive people to have material incentives
            for innovation; and
      --the need to preserve the record of our citizens' creativity.
        Serving the Congress is LOC's top priority. LOC's Congressional
    Research Service (CRS) has--for almost a century--embodied the
    distinctive American ideal of a knowledge-based democracy. CRS serves
    the Congress exclusively. And LOC's law library also provides objective
    nonpartisan information and analysis to the first branch of Government.
        Never have the core activities of LOC been more important to
    America than now in the information age. Both our international
    economic competitiveness and our national security depend increasingly
    on knowledge and information drawn from every part of the globe. LOC is
    the mother lode of the Nation's strategic information reserve for the
    work of the Congress and other Government agencies. Even as we speak,
    our Cairo office is systematically sending us the pictures, pamphlets,
    and social messaging of the current uprisings in the Middle East.
        LOC is making a unique and original contribution to the all-
    important crisis in K-12 education throughout America with its
    authoritative Internet outreach. We are delivering more than 20 million
    items free of charge, most of which are primary documents of American
    history and culture. We have also now begun to include in our widely
    used Web services similarly unique documents from other world
    cultures--drawing from our own collections and from many of our 135
    partner institutions from all over the United States and the world. We
    are also working with 167 other U.S. partners on our congressionally
    mandated program for digital preservation.
        A second--and crucial--question at this time is: Have we
    responsibly addressed the massive fiscal challenges posed by the
    Federal deficit, about which the Congress is understandably concerned?
        For a number of years now, we have been submitting constrained
    budgets. If we set aside the normal inflationary pay and price level
    increases that all agencies request, LOC in the last 4 years has asked
    for program increases averaging only 2.3 percent of the base budget.
    The committees have commended these modest requests.
        In fiscal 2012, LOC requests funding to meet a critical need to
    expand incident handling and response capacity to keep pace with the
    evolving IT security threat landscape. The enhancements include
    expanding the incident handling and response function to 24 hours a
    day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The enhancements also include
    advanced security incident and event monitoring, net flow analysis, and
    other systems and processes commonly used across other Government
    agencies.
        LOC also requests funding and 17 full-time equivalents for CRS,
    first requested in fiscal 2011, to broaden its expertise and strengthen
    analytical capacity in the areas of science and technology, healthcare,
    financial economics and accounting, and social policy related to
    employment, immigration, and the workforce. This funding will enable
    CRS to provide enhanced multidisciplinary analysis on complex and
    emerging policy issues before the Congress. Additional analytical
    capacity will also give CRS the long-term flexibility to adapt to
    rapidly changing issues and debates in these critical areas.
        These two program requests represent less than 1 percent of the
    fiscal 2011 continuing resolution base. The great bulk (77 percent) of
    our overall 3.45 percent requested increase is for the mandatory pay
    and price level increases of $18 million.
        LOC programs are not ``nice to have''. Almost all provide one-of-a-
    kind national resources and services that no one else in either our
    public or private sectors can reasonably be expected to replicate.
        Even under a best-case budget outlook, funding at the fiscal 2010
    level for both fiscal 2011 and 2012 would result in an effective budget
    cut of more than $31 million, or 4.8 percent, against the fiscal 2010
    base. This alone would require substantial program and staff
    sacrifices. And some of the reduction scenarios currently being
    proposed could cut to the bone and require us to take steps that not
    even past wars and depressions have forced us to consider in LOC's 211-
    year history. This possibility leads to a final question.
        How would we handle major budget cuts?
        We would have to ask ourselves where among the many services that
    we uniquely perform we should reduce funding: In our deacidification of
    brittle books and manuscripts that will then become unusable? In our
    cataloging and standards service that will increase the burden on
    already strained local and State libraries? In providing fewer books
    and magazine titles free to 800,000 blind and physically handicapped
    Americans who generally read much more than sighted people?
        Even if we cut back our public services significantly, we would
    reluctantly also have to consider furloughing or cutting back on
    personnel. Our dedicated, experienced, and multi-talented staff
    accounts for 63 percent of LOC's overall budget, and 89 percent of
    CRS'. LOC is now doing far more work than in 1992, but with 1,076 fewer
    people on the staff. Half of those reductions have occurred just in the
    last 5 years.
        We are also critically dependent on sustaining the successful
    collections storage program at Fort Meade and ask for your approval of
    funds for construction of Module 5--included in the Architect of the
    Capitol budget.
        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee,
    America's oldest Federal cultural institution has become part of the
    innovative infrastructure of America in the information age. I thank
    you again for your support of LOC and for your consideration of our
    fiscal 2012 request.
                                     ______

      Prepared Statement of Daniel P. Mulhollan, Director, Congressional
                                Research Service

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee:
    Thank you for the opportunity to present the fiscal year 2012 budget
    request for the Congressional Research Service (CRS). In addition to
    presenting our budget request and describing some of the support we
    have provided the Congress over the past year, I would also like to
    describe how CRS' mission of being a pooled resource shared by the
    entire Congress enables it to provide the information and analysis
    necessary for the Congress to perform its legislative and oversight
    functions in an efficient and economical manner.

              loc deg.CRS: POOLED STAFF FOR THE CONGRESS

        CRS has always viewed itself as an extension of congressional
    staff, a pooled resource that is available to all of the Congress. The
    range of its expertise and the disciplines that make up the
    informational and analytical capacity of CRS were intended to relieve
    Member and committee offices of the need to hire their own specialized
    experts to cover the many issues they confront on a daily basis. This
    was a primary rationale for the enhancement of CRS in the Legislative
    Reorganization Act of 1970.
        In that act, among other institutional changes, the Congress
    increased our permanent staff and the CRS was reconstituted from the
    Legislative Reference Service and established as a cost-effective
    shared resource available to every Member regardless of seniority,
    party or position, and to every committee. The House Committee on Rules
    Report on the 1970 act emphasized the importance of having such a
    nonpartisan resource accessible to all when it wrote that a shared
    staff would:

        ``Insure the equal availability of information to both Houses of
    Congress; insulate the analytical phase of program review and policy
    analysis from political biases and therefore produce a more credible
    and objective product and more easily develop common frames of
    reference and analytical techniques that would make such analyses more
    useful and meaningful to all committees.''

        The Rules Committee went on to stress the efficiency of such a
    shared research staff:

        ``Finally, the pooling principle underlying supplementary staffs
    makes them inherently more economical and efficient than dispersed
    staffs, for they can more easily reallocate resources as changing
    conditions and congressional needs warrant.''

        CRS was referred to as a ``research pool'' by the Senate Committee
    on Government Operations in describing a predecessor version of the
    1970 Legislative Reorganization Act.
        The House Committee's reference to CRS' ability to ``develop common
    frames of reference and analytical techniques that would make such
    analyses more useful and meaningful to all committees'' points to
    important hallmarks of CRS' work, namely its experts' familiarity with
    how issues are positioned in the legislative context, their knowledge
    of how the Congress and the law work and their insights into the
    decisionmaking processes of the executive agencies that implement the
    law. This, combined with institutional memory developed over years of
    working with Members and committees, make for a potent resource
    available nowhere else.
        We, of course, are prepared to do our part to achieve savings and
    contribute to the goal of efficient legislative branch operations. I
    feel that our request for additional staff in certain specialized areas
    is consistent with the vision of a CRS that efficiently serves all of
    the Congress. It is staff that can be shared with all Members and
    committees.
        We also plan to leverage web tools and client and management
    information systems to enable more focused and responsive support. In
    difficult budget times, CRS offers a model that achieves economies and
    savings and at the same time provides the expertise and resources the
    Congress needs to legislate in an informed manner and to effectively
    oversee the operations of Government.

                   loc deg.SUPPORT FOR THE CONGRESS

        Highlights of the last session of the 111th Congress and CRS'
    preparations for the 112th Congress illustrate how CRS can bring to
    bear the breadth and depth of its expertise to provide continuing
    legislative assistance to Members and committees.
        Before the postelection session of the 111th Congress ended, CRS
    was planning for the 112th by identifying the issues that were likely
    to be on the legislative agenda, forming multidisciplinary teams around
    these current legislative issues, preparing and updating reports and
    positioning itself to help Members and committees more clearly
    understand the problems facing them and the country and identify and
    analyze options for dealing with them. We cluster this work around a
    current legislative issues framework which is an organizing principle
    for our collaborative work across the CRS and a primary means by which
    we present this work on our Web site.
        More than 160 issues were identified and, shortly after the 112th
    Congress convened, we had populated our Web site with relevant products
    and prepared overview issue statements for each of the issues. That
    array of analysis and information provides all Members access to the
    best thinking of CRS analysts and information professionals on the
    issues that are currently or likely to appear on the legislative
    agenda. The analysis and information are available to all. But just as
    important, if not more so, this body of work enables direct access to
    our experts, whose names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses appear on
    all of our reports. These experts stand ready to consult with Members
    and congressional staff, prepare tailored analyses of specific
    questions, and to regularly update their reports to reflect where
    issues are currently positioned in the legislative process.
        This anticipatory legislative planning work spanned several months
    and resulted in CRS being well placed to provide products and services
    to the incoming 112th Congress. However, as we all know, even the best
    planning cannot anticipate all issues that may suddenly confront the
    Congress. CRS has the analytical flexibility to address quickly
    emerging issues. For example, when the earthquake and tsunami struck
    Japan, CRS had reports on earthquakes, tsunamis, and relief efforts on
    its Web site within 24 hours. When security of nuclear plants quickly
    became an issue, CRS' body of work on nuclear energy and security was
    available and new reports, building on these previous reports, were
    added to provide the Congress with a full perspective on the crisis in
    Japan.
        In another example, the ousting of the President of Tunisia quickly
    fanned unrest in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East. As
    pressure mounted on President Mubarak to leave office, we quickly
    updated our reports on Egypt and other countries such as Bahrain,
    Yemen, and Libya that were experiencing popular uprisings and
    highlighted that body of work on the home page of our Web site. We also
    reorganized our current legislative issues framework for the Middle
    East to focus on the unrest that was engulfing the region. In addition
    to products focused on specific countries, analyses also treated the
    impact of the unrest on oil supplies, the security posture of the
    United States and the legal, military, and economic impacts of a no-fly
    zone over Libya. And, of course, our Middle East experts conducted
    numerous briefings and prepared tailored analyses of questions raised
    by the turmoil.
        The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig and its sinking in
    the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010 was another event that required CRS to
    mobilize its resources quickly. We prepared analyses of the
    implications of the spill and also posted new research resources on our
    Web site with links to news, relevant legislation, hearings in both
    chambers, and an oil spill events time line. CRS developed timely
    research and analytical support at every stage of the ensuing
    legislative process, including numerous hearings and development of
    legislative proposals. CRS specialists--with economic, scientific, and
    legal expertise--provided expert witnesses at hearings and collaborated
    with lawmakers on many aspects of Federal jurisdiction over Outer
    Continental Shelf resources, fisheries, worker safety, emergency
    response, insurance, and--after the well was capped--the use of moneys
    from the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund for the Federal spill response
    and implications of the deepwater drilling moratorium.
        This confluence of our regular legislative planning work and the
    mobilization of our expertise in response to breaking events
    demonstrates how CRS can pool its resources and stand ready to serve
    the long- and short-term needs of the Congress. These first few months
    of the 112th Congress have underscored the contributions CRS can make
    to the policy debates in the Congress. CRS places the array of issues
    that the Congress is likely to face in a framework that is accessible
    and that discusses those issues in the legislative context in which
    they will be debated. And the CRS can respond quickly to events that
    can overtake the legislative agenda and demand the attention of the
    Congress and the country with focused analyses and ready availability
    of experts from all disciplines.
        I must also note another important aspect of our support of the
    Congress--our congressional operations work. We maintain a large body
    of reports and information on the procedures and operations of the
    Congress and these will soon be better integrated into our Web site
    offerings to make them more accessible. Our expertise on congressional
    procedure is unparalleled and we make that expertise available not only
    through reports and tailored work by legislative procedure analysts but
    also through an extensive education program of seminars on all aspects
    of the legislative process. We were able to bring this expertise to
    bear to assist the Senate in the confirmation process for Associate
    Justice Kagan and the impeachment proceedings against Federal District
    Judge Porteous, which resulted in his conviction and removal from
    office in December 2010.
        A number of high-profile events in the last session of the 111th
    Congress also demonstrate the breadth and depth of the support CRS
    provides to the Congress. 2010 saw enactment of major financial
    regulatory and healthcare legislation. With respect to the latter, CRS
    supported the Congress throughout the legislative process, including
    detailed analyses of proposals and numerous briefings and programs. CRS
    experts addressed such complex issues as the implications of changes in
    dependency coverage, establishment of State high-risk pools for
    individuals with pre-existing health conditions, the creation of small
    business health insurance tax credits, and also explored legal and
    policy issues associated with mandating that individuals purchase
    health insurance. After passage of the law, CRS prepared analyses of
    the numerous new entities created by the law as well as the steps
    needed to be taken in the rule-making process. Our attorneys have also
    tracked the continuing litigation over the validity of the law and
    analyzed the court decisions as they have been issued.
        With respect to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer
    Protection Act, lawmakers relied on CRS testimony, numerous reports and
    memoranda, personal consultations, programs and authoritative
    comparisons of legislative provisions contained in the House and Senate
    versions of the legislation. Our experts also supported congressional
    committees in overseeing the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program
    (TARP) and examined other Federal assistance given to large financial
    institutions by the Federal Reserve.
        CRS analysis also addressed efforts in the last Congress to promote
    job creation and increase employment in the wake of the economic crisis
    and recession. Because of the severity of the recession and the
    subsequent slow pace of economic recovery, the Congress sought analysis
    and information on the relative depth of the recent recession compared
    to past recessions and on programs and policies that have the potential
    of helping unemployed workers secure work. CRS analyzed employment
    trends before and after the end of previous recessions, long-term
    unemployment and recessions, countercyclical job creation programs, the
    employment effects of infrastructure spending, and training programs
    available for unemployed workers.
        CRS provided support regarding numerous foreign policy issues in
    2010, including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, United States-
    Pakistan relations, the Greek and European debt crises, trade issues
    with China, and Iran and North Korean sanctions. CRS experts also
    provided insight to the Congress as it began to explore the emerging
    areas of cyber security and other cyber operations, including the
    relationship between information operations and cyber warfare.
        Immigration reform re-emerged in 2010 and CRS was asked to assess
    various reform proposals as well as to analyze the actions that States
    were taking with respect to immigrants and border security. Tax experts
    analyzed the impact of various tax proposals including extending prior
    years' tax cuts. Military detainees, campaign finance, and gun control
    continued to be of congressional interest, the debates being influenced
    by recent court decisions. CRS attorneys and policy experts
    collaborated on analyses of these issues.
        The foregoing are examples of the degree of involvement of CRS in
    the legislative and oversight work of the last Congress as well as
    during the initial months of this Congress. The collaboration among
    multidisciplinary experts, the breadth of issue coverage, the ability
    to respond in the face of breaking events and the close proximity of
    CRS to the Congress all combine to enable CRS to serve efficiently as
    shared staff and a pooled resource to be drawn upon by all offices and
    committees of the Congress.

                     loc deg.CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

        I noted in my testimony last year, that the CRS, at the direction
    of the conference on the legislative branch appropriations bill,
    contracted with LMI, a not-for-profit strategic consulting firm, to
    independently evaluate CRS' current staffing models and procedures to
    determine how effectively we are meeting our statutory mandate. LMI
    conducted Member and staff surveys and interviews, reported on best
    practices for research organizations geared to ensuring responsiveness
    to client needs, and assessed communication channels that would ensure
    that CRS remains aligned with the work of the Congress and the needs of
    its clients.
        LMI found a high degree of satisfaction with CRS products and
    services and found us to be a reliable, timely and authoritative source
    of expertise for the entire range of congressional clients. We are
    addressing areas in which LMI recommended improvements based on the
    feedback it obtained, including examining our product line, improving
    our Web site and options to ensure that CRS availability is aligned
    with the operations of congressional staff. It was gratifying to
    receive the confirmation that we are doing a good job of serving the
    Congress. However, there is always room for improvement and it is all
    the more imperative in these challenging budget times that we remain
    the most efficient and cost-effective resource for the Congress that we
    can be.

                loc deg.FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET REQUEST

        The CRS budget request for fiscal year 2012 is $117.1 million, with
    almost 90 percent devoted to pay and benefits for our staff. CRS
    continues to operate at its lowest staff level in more than three
    decades, and the small percentage of nonpay expenditures is limited to
    basic operational needs. The requested program increase will obtain
    additional specialized technical skills and policy expertise to expand
    the capabilities of CRS and meet the growing policy demands placed upon
    the Congress.
        An internal review of our capabilities to analyze the rapidly
    evolving and increasingly complex challenges facing the Congress
    identified gaps in the specialized skills needed for comprehensive
    multidisciplinary analyses and assessments. This budget request
    includes $2.7 million for 17 full-time equivalents (FTEs) needed to
    address these concerns. This will strengthen research capabilities in
    science, engineering and technology and the broader expertise in these
    areas will enable CRS to respond more readily to rapidly changing
    science and technology policy debates. The economic crisis and the
    major financial regulatory legislation enacted in its aftermath require
    additional CRS expertise in financial accounting, consumer protection
    and financial sector regulation in order to effectively support the
    Congress' legislative and oversight work in these areas. Additional
    expertise is also needed to support multidisciplinary research on
    policy options in the wake of the enactment of healthcare reform
    legislation as well as analysis of the potential effects of proposed
    changes in the organization, financing and delivery of healthcare
    services. Finally, CRS is asking for additional positions to address
    the many complex issues pertaining to employment, immigration, the
    workforce and the economic well-being of U.S. residents.

                                   CONCLUSION

        This budget request identifies resources that I feel are needed for
    CRS to provide the full scope of information and analysis that is
    relevant to the work of the Congress. CRS developed this spending plan
    to ensure that returns justified the investment while cognizant of the
    difficult budget climate. My colleagues and I are committed to
    continually examine every activity and program for efficiencies and
    reduce or eliminate costs where possible while fulfilling our mission.
    We are proud of our unique role as a pooled staff resource for
    nonpartisan, confidential, authoritative, and objective analysis for
    the Congress.
        I want to thank you for your support and the support the CRS has
    received over the years that has made it into the institution it is
    today. This will be the final time I will submit testimony before the
    subcommittee. After 17 years as Director and 42 years with the
    Congressional Research Service, I am retiring from congressional
    service in April. It has been an honor and privilege to have served in
    a variety of capacities in CRS, an organization that I believe is
    critical to maintaining an informed national legislature.
        Thank you.
                                     ______

     Prepared Statement of Maria A. Pallante, Acting Register of Copyrights

        Mr. Chairman Nelson, Senator Hoeven, and members of the
    subcommittee: Thank you for the opportunity to present the fiscal 2012
    budget request of the U.S. Copyright Office.
        We deeply respect the commitment of the Congress to address the
    Federal deficit and Government spending, and we appreciate your
    consideration of our budgetary needs. Indeed, our talented and
    hardworking employees have always carried out the work of the Copyright
    Office with a sense of purpose and are fully prepared to share in the
    burden of these austere times. We are not seeking additional full-time
    equivalents (FTEs) or funding for new projects at this time. However,
    we do wish to ensure that our existing staff is compensated
    competitively so that we may maintain a highly skilled and motivated
    workforce at a time when copyright law is increasingly complex and the
    Office's services are increasingly technical and in demand.
    Specifically, our requests are as follows:
      --A 1.7 percent increase ($0.843 million) more than fiscal year 2011
            to support mandatory pay-related and price-level increases
            affecting administration of the Office's core business systems
            and public services; and
      --A 1.7 percent increase ($0.095 million) more than fiscal year 2011
            in offsetting collection authority of the Copyright Licensing
            Division to support mandatory pay-related and price-level
            increases affecting the administration of the Office's
            licensing functions.

                       loc deg.PROGRAM OVERVIEW

        The U.S. Copyright Office has been part of the Library of Congress
    (LOC) since 1870. The Office administers the copyright law of the
    United States, which traces its roots to the Constitution. Principal
    functions of the Office include administration of the national
    copyright registration and recordation systems and the mandatory
    deposit provisions for published works. Each year, the Office acquires
    hundreds of thousands of books, films, sound recordings, and other
    creative works of authorship to LOC's national collection. In fiscal
    2010, the Office transferred 814,243 copies to LOC at a value of
    approximately $33 million.
        The Office also administers the compulsory and statutory license
    provisions of the Copyright Act, including licenses for satellite and
    cable transmissions. The Licensing Division is responsible for
    collecting and investing royalty fees for later distribution to
    copyright owners, examining related documentation, and recording
    certain licensing documents.
        In terms of the larger U.S. economy, many authors, composers, book
    and software publishers, film and television producers, and creators of
    musical works depend on the registration system to help them enforce
    against copyright infringement. Based on a study released in 2009,\1\
    these core sectors--whose primary purpose is to produce and distribute
    creative works--account for more than 6 percent of the U.S. domestic
    gross product, or $889 billion (reflecting 2007 data, the most recent
    year for which data are available). The core copyright industries also
    employed 5.6 million workers (4.05 percent of U.S. workers), and that
    number doubles to more than 11.7 million people (8.5 percent of the
    U.S. workforce) when the workers that help and support the distribution
    of these works are added into the equation. The Office facilitates
    transactions in the marketplace by assisting users of content to track
    the ownership of copyrighted content and the transfers and licenses of
    the exclusive rights afforded by law.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ Stephen E. Siwek, Copyright Industries in the U.S. Economy: The
    2003-2007 Report, prepared by Economists, Inc. for the International
    Intellectual Property Alliance (2009).
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        The Office has a dedicated team of legal and policy experts who
    advise the Congress on domestic and international policy activities
    (for example, on legislation) and who also provide assistance and
    information to the judiciary and executive branch agencies (for
    example, on litigation of interest to the United States or on matters
    of bilateral or plurilateral trade). These duties are prescribed in
    chapter seven of the copyright law (17 U.S.C. Sec. 701).
        The Copyright Office is currently in a period of transition,
    following the retirement of Marybeth Peters on December 31, 2010, who
    directed the staff and functions for 16 years. As the Acting Register,
    I, along with LOC's Chief of Staff, have spent many weeks speaking with
    a broad spectrum of stakeholders in the copyright community, from book
    publishers to the technology sector, discussing with them the issues
    that are or should be priorities of the Office in the coming years.
        I have also been meeting with the managers and staff of the
    Copyright Office, individually or in small groups, to assess the views
    of those who work here and administer our public services, and to help
    set a path for our future business and the workplace environment of our
    employees. This assessment is still under way, but has already proved
    to be quite helpful to the Librarian and to me and should prove
    invaluable to the next Register, once appointed.

                        loc deg.PROGRAM FUNDING

        Funding for the Office derives from two sources--user fees and
    appropriations. More than 60 percent of the Office's budget is
    collected from fees paid for copyright registration, document
    recordation, and related services. The remaining operating budget
    covers the policy, legal, adjudicatory, and support operations. To
    ensure that fees represent current costs and market conditions, the
    Office undertakes a triennial fee study, the most recent of which was
    published in fiscal 2009 with another planned for fiscal 2012. The
    Office's fiscal 2011 budget request was approximately $55.5 million,
    approximately $34 million of which was funded by Office revenues.

               loc deg.REGISTRATION OF COPYRIGHT CLAIMS

        The Copyright Office has made tremendous progress in the past year
    in reducing the backlog of claims that occurred with the transition to
    an electronic registration system. In fiscal 2012, we will continue our
    efforts to improve operational efficiencies in the electronic
    registration system, including our continued efforts to decrease
    processing times for registration and recordation filings. Today, the
    system allows claimants to file registration applications online and,
    in many cases, to upload a digital copy of the work to fulfill the
    deposit requirement.
        Since they were made available in July 2008, electronic filings
    quickly displaced the use of paper applications. To date in fiscal
    2011, electronic filings constitute more than 80 percent of all claims
    received. The Copyright Office typically handles more than 500,000
    copyright claims each year, representing well more than 1 million
    works. In fiscal 2010, the Office received 522,796 claims to copyright,
    and closed 682,148, of which it registered 636,527 claims. The Office
    answered almost 316,000 nonfee information and reference inquiries and
    served a substantial number of visitors to the Public Information
    Office and the Copyright Public Records Reading Room.
        In building the electronic system, the Office experienced a backlog
    of claims that was not unexpected given the major work process changes,
    temporary staff relocations, system testing and servicing, and
    widespread workforce training. The backlog peaked in 2009, but with
    support from LOC, the Office has reduced the backlog by hundreds of
    thousands of claims to around 167,000 as of this writing, while at the
    same time processing new claims at an average rate of 10,000 a week. We
    expect that our work on hand will fall to 150,000 claims within the
    next several weeks--an achievement that speaks to the dedication of our
    employees.
        One issue we will continue to explore going forward is what might
    constitute a reasonable amount of work on hand for purposes of
    assessing operational success. Because the electronic filing system
    allows for hybrid submissions (where the application and fee, submitted
    online, are followed up by a hardcopy deposit mailed separately), and
    because some claims require the Office to further correspond with the
    applicant, the Office will always have categories of work that cannot
    be immediately processed. These claims (presently about 95,000) do not
    contribute to a backlog but are in fact an anticipated and routine part
    of the Office's business operations.
        The Office is also cognizant of the need for quality assurance.
    While we are constantly exploring ways to improve our speed and
    efficiency, we remain mindful of our obligation to ensure the integrity
    of the registration records that we create and maintain. Fast
    processing times, although virtuous, cannot come at the expense of the
    accuracy and completeness of our public records.

            loc deg.COPYRIGHT RECORDS DIGITIZATION PROJECT

        We continue to make progress in our multi-year project to digitize
    the millions of disparate pre-1977 copyright records, many of which
    represent works still protected by copyright law. (Records for post-
    1977 registrations are already available online.) This project is of
    utmost historic importance, as there is no complete back up of such
    records for preservation or security purposes. It is also of critical
    importance to our mission as an office of public record, making it
    easier for persons to locate copyright owners, analyze copyright term,
    and facilitate licensing. The records include registration information,
    assignments of copyrights, and licensing documentation going back to
    the beginning of the Copyright Office and may well implicate works
    published before the Civil War.
        In terms of legal relevance, the Office is prioritizing records for
    works published between 1923 and 1977, as in many instances, the
    copyright in such works has not yet expired. We plan to complete up to
    50 percent of the card catalog records from this era by the end of
    fiscal 2012. In so doing, we will continue to test imaging quality,
    clarity, create searchable metadata, and plan for cross-referencing of
    the imaged records.

               loc deg.LICENSING DIVISION RE-ENGINEERING

        Business re-engineering efforts for the Licensing Division began in
    fiscal 2011. Thus far, the Office has completed an operational
    baseline, consulted with external stakeholders, and begun benchmarking
    exercises against entities with similar functions. The goals of this
    re-engineering effort are to:
      --decrease processing times for statements of account by 30 percent
            or more;
      --implement an online filing process; and
      --improve public access to Office records.
        In fiscal year 2010, the Licensing Division collected more than
    $274 million in royalties from cable and satellite companies subject to
    statutory licenses, accrued more than $4.3 million in interest on
    royalties for the copyright owners, and distributed more than $249
    million to copyright owners. As part of our fiscal 2011 budget request,
    we sought an additional one-time authorization of $500,000 to cover any
    unforeseen re-engineering expenses. As always, any funds not expended
    will be returned to the royalty pools.
        In fiscal year 2012, the Licensing Division will continue to
    collect and distribute royalty fees and examine licensing
    documentation. It also will implement and refine its new processes and
    technology systems. It will test systems for online cable licensing and
    expects to implement an electronic version of its more complex
    statements of account, which currently take up to 14 months to process
    and which are typically of most interest to users. The Licensing
    Division will soon solicit proposals to develop the technical
    infrastructure required by re-engineering.
        As mentioned below, we are preparing, and will deliver to the
    Congress, a report on market alternatives to statutory licensing, due
    in August 2011. The Office stands ready to assist and advise the
    Congress with consideration of that report and to modify its operations
    should the Congress enact any changes to current law.

                  loc deg.ELECTRONIC SERIALS PROJECT

        As more and more journals, magazines, and newspapers are ``born
    digital'', the Copyright Office is leading a LOC-wide effort to study,
    identify, obtain, and manage serials that publishers supply to us in
    electronic formats (eSerials). Although the project currently focuses
    on the mandatory deposit provisions under the law (i.e., the provisions
    requiring publishers to deposit copies of certain works with the LOC
    within 3 months of publication), it serves as a test bed for the intake
    of works by LOC through other mechanisms, including the registration
    system. The Copyright Office administers the mandatory deposit
    provisions of the law and is currently working with other LOC service
    units to develop an agencywide accommodation for eSerials. We expect
    the initial phase of that project to be completed in September 2011.
                  loc deg.legal and policy activities
        The Office is never without complex work on the domestic and
    international policy fronts.

    Online Piracy
        Throughout the past several weeks, the Office has been conducting
    meetings with a wide spectrum of stakeholders in order to explore the
    current state of online infringement of copyright law and sale of
    counterfeit goods via so-called ``rogue websites'' and possible
    mechanisms by which to combat such piracy and widespread
    counterfeiting. The Judiciary Committees of both the House and Senate
    of the 112th Congress are focused on this issue. On March 14, I
    testified on the issue before the House Subcommittee on Intellectual
    Property, Competition, and the Internet (testimony may be accessed at
    http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/hear_03142011.html). We will be
    working very closely in support of the both the Senate and House as the
    Committees deliberate further and prepare legislative text.

    Technical Clarifications
        At the end of fiscal 2010, the Office advised the Judiciary
    Committees of the need for legislation amending certain provisions of
    the Copyright Act to clarify the law, permit the Office to perform
    certain functions more efficiently by relying on electronic resources,
    and make technical corrections. The Copyright Cleanup, Clarifications,
    and Correction Act of 2010, based upon the Office's recommendations,
    was signed into law on December 9, 2010.

    Termination of Transfers and Licenses by Authors
        During fiscal 2011, the Office provided the Congress with an
    analysis of the situation with respect to so-called ``gap grants''
    under the termination provisions of title 17; specifically, the
    analysis concerned grants entered into before January 1, 1978 for works
    that were not created until January 1, 1978 or later and discussed
    certain possible clarifications. The Office led an extensive public
    consultation process that included holding a public comment process on
    its preliminary proposals related to the outcome of the report, as well
    as a related regulatory process for which it expects to issue a final
    rule in fiscal 2012. The law requires that authors record the notices
    they serve on licensees with the Copyright Office (pursuant to certain
    deadlines) as a condition of termination.

    Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
        In fiscal 2010, the Office concluded its fourth rulemaking on
    exemptions from the prohibition on circumvention of technological
    measures that control access to copyrighted works, as provided in 17
    U.S.C. Sec. 1201. The law requires that every 3 years the Copyright
    Office make recommendations to the Librarian of Congress regarding
    works that should be exempt from the statutory prohibition on the
    circumvention of access control mechanisms, provided the circumvention
    takes place in order to engage in noninfringing uses of copyrighted
    works.
        In the most recent iteration issued in July 2010, the Librarian
    announced six classes of works that are entitled to exemption. Notable
    exemptions include motion pictures on DVD, if the circumvention takes
    place for purposes of using short portions for the purpose of criticism
    or comment; software on mobile phones if circumvention is performed for
    the purpose of making the phone interoperable with other applications;
    and literary works distributed in eBook format for the benefit of the
    blind and visually impaired, provided that existing eBook versions of
    the title prevent access to the ``read-aloud'' function or to screen
    readers.
        Other recent regulatory actions would allow the LOC to demand the
    electronic deposit of published works available only online and allow
    the Copyright Office to accommodate on online submission of
    applications for group registrations involving photographs.

    Report on Statutory Licenses
        The Copyright Office worked closely with the staff of the House and
    Senate Judiciary Committees as well as the Congressional Budget Office
    in addressing issues relating to passage of the Satellite Television
    Extension and Localism Act, which reauthorized the statutory license
    for satellite carriers to carry certain over-the-air broadcast signals.
    In that legislation, the Congress assigned the Copyright Office the
    task of preparing a comprehensive report to identify and explore
    marketplace alternatives to the statutory licenses in the law that
    allow for retransmission of over-the-air broadcast signals. To date, we
    have held a number of meetings with stakeholders and published a notice
    of inquiry seeking public comments. We expect to submit our report by
    the August 29, 2011 deadline. This is a significant study because,
    although the Congress has asked us on several occasions to study the
    cable and satellite statutory licenses for television programming, and
    we have on several occasions recommended the eventual phasing out of
    the those studies, this marks the first time the Congress has expressly
    asked us to make recommendations on how to phase out those licenses

    Report on Pre-1972 Sound Recordings
        The Office is also in the midst of its study on the copyright
    treatment of pre-1972 sound recordings, which was mandated in the
    Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009. Specifically, the Office has been
    directed to study the desirability of, and means for, bringing sound
    recordings fixed before February 15, 1972, into the Federal statutory
    copyright regime. Currently, State law governs such pre-1972 sound
    recordings, which in many cases is not well defined. Federal copyright
    law allows States to protect these pre-1972 sound recordings until
    February 15, 2067. Although behind schedule for this report, the Office
    began its preparatory work last year, including publishing a notice of
    inquiry for which we have received more than 50 comments thus far. We
    will follow up in the spring of 2011 with hearings or roundtables, and
    expects to prepare its analysis and recommendations in the summer and
    fall. We are grateful for the subcommittee's agreement to extend the
    deadline for our report from March 11, 2011 to December 31, 2011.

    Litigation
        As in previous years, the Office assisted the Justice Department in
    a number of court cases involving copyright issues, including the
    preparation of an amicus brief filed with the Supreme Court in Costco
    Wholesale Corp. v. Omega S.A., a case concerning the first sale
    doctrine and the exclusive importation right that was affirmed by an
    equally divided court; and Golan v. Holder, a defense against a
    constitutional challenge to the ``copyright restoration'' provision of
    the Uruguay Round Agreements Act.
        The Office continued to spend significant time evaluating the legal
    and business implications of the ongoing Google book search litigation
    and proposed settlement agreement, including the broader implications
    of the proposed settlement on the mass digitization of books and the
    treatment of ``orphan'' works--works for which rights holders are
    unknown or cannot be located. The Department of Justice filed two
    statements of interest with the court on which the Copyright Office
    provided significant advice.\2\ The former Register of Copyrights,
    Marybeth Peters, also testified before House Judiciary Committee on the
    matter in 2009 about copyright concerns. On March 22, 2011, Judge Chin
    denied the parties' motion for approval of the proposed settlement,
    consistent with the recommendation of the U.S. Government. The Office
    is pleased with the court's opinion and will continue to monitor the
    progress of the case in anticipation of likely appeals. It will also
    continue to work with congressional committees, the parties and other
    stakeholders on policy issues raised by the case that are better suited
    to the Congress than the courts.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \2\ See Statement of Interest of the United States of America
    Regarding Proposed Class Settlement (September 18, 2009) and the
    Statement of Interest of the United States of America Regarding
    Proposed Amended Settlement Agreement (February 4, 2010), both
    available at http://www.justice.gov/atr/cases/authorsguild.htm.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Accessible Works for the Blind and Individuals With Print Disabilities
        Copyright Office attorneys continued to spend considerable time in
    fiscal 2011 examining the ways in which the United States provides
    copyrighted works in accessible formats to the blind, visually impaired
    and print-disabled, as well as similar issues involving cross-border
    access to copyrighted works in the context of national exceptions for
    the blind, visually impaired, and print-disabled and international
    copyright treaty obligations. The Office has worked diligently with
    other U.S. Government agencies in preparing for and attending meetings
    of the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Standing
    Committee on Copyright and Related Rights, which has this issue on its
    agenda.
        In fiscal year 2010, in partnership with WIPO, we organized and
    hosted a week-long training for developing countries and countries in
    transition, the focus of which was accessibility and standard for
    protection under copyright laws worldwide. The Office is currently
    working with LOC's National Library Service for the Blind, as well as
    with advocates for the blind and other stakeholders, to explore ways to
    improve standards, resources and responsible cross border movement of
    works in accessible formats, including through participation in a
    voluntary WIPO Stakeholders' Platform pilot project for the cross-
    border transfer of accessible works.
        Both LOC and the Office are working with the Department of
    Education and other Federal Government agencies as part of a
    statutorily mandated commission on issues involving access to copyright
    works for the visually impaired in the context of higher education. I
    am the chairperson of the legal subcommittee of the Commission, which
    will deliver a report to the Congress before the end of fiscal 2012.

    Anti-Piracy and Other International Developments
        Finally, the Copyright Office continues to play an important role
    in intergovernmental negotiations and international discussions of
    copyright law and policy, including the importance of antipiracy
    efforts and the proper framework for exceptions and limitations. We
    continue our long-standing tradition of participating in important WIPO
    meetings that addressed copyright issues (including the Standing
    Committee on Copyright and Related Rights), working with other
    Government leaders and copyright offices from around the world.
        The Office also continues its significant role in assisting Federal
    Government agencies with many multilateral, regional, and bilateral
    negotiations and served on many U.S. delegations, including
    negotiations regarding the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, the
    proposed Trans Pacific Partnership, and the Joint Commission on
    Commerce and Trade with China in addition to negotiations and meetings
    relating to the implementation of intellectual property provisions of
    existing Free Trade Agreements and Trade Promotion Agreements. We
    participated on the interagency committee charged with preparing the
    annual special 301 report issued by the United States Trade
    Representative.
        Our day-to-day international work involved reviewing and commenting
    on the national copyright laws and proposed amendments from numerous
    countries, either as part of the World Trade Organization accession or
    trade policy review proceedings or based on requests by other U.S. or
    foreign entities. One goal of these reviews was to ensure that
    copyright laws around the world meet binding treaty obligations and
    provide effective copyright enforcement mechanisms. Over the past year,
    we reviewed the copyright laws or proposed revisions in at least 23
    countries, and participated in bilateral negotiations and consultations
    that covered these themes and more with at least 18 countries.
        The Office requested funds in fiscal 2011 to organize and host
    another international copyright training for developing countries, the
    intended focus of which is collective licensing and other innovative
    means of making copyrighted works available in the marketplace.

                                   CONCLUSION

        Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for your consideration of our
    budget request today and for the subcommittee's past support of the
    U.S. Copyright Office. Thank you in particular for considering the
    funding we require to sustain a first-rate staff and meet necessary
    expenses, enabling us to perform our core duties under the law.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Ambassador O'Keefe.

    STATEMENT OF AMBASSADOR JOHN O'KEEFE, EXECUTIVE
                DIRECTOR, OPEN WORLD LEADERSHIP CENTER
        Ambassador O'Keefe. Thank you Senator.
        Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to testify on
    the OWLC's fiscal year 2012 budget request.
        As a unique congressional center and resource, the OWLC
    strengthens ties with a region of the world that contains not
    only the world's largest gas reserves, but also one of the
    largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Our program enlists
    civic-minded people in communities throughout the United States
    who show our delegates how democracy really works. We recognize
    their devotion and commitment.
        I would like to pause at this moment to honor Judge John M.
    Roll of Tucson, who had hosted 38 judges and other legal
    professionals from Russia and Ukraine for us since 2002, and
    Gabe Zimmerman of Representative Giffords' staff, who was so
    welcoming to so many of our participants. We mourn their
    passing.

                    OWLC deg.EFFECTIVENESS OF OWLC

        Entering a new decade of programs, the OWLC continues to
    identify leaders of tomorrow from Eurasia, introduce them to
    U.S. democratic values, connect them to counterparts throughout
    America, and provide resources for partnerships. Four new
    members of the Senate met with OWLC delegates prior to entering
    the 112th Congress, including Senator Hoeven when he was
    Governor.
        As an example of the power of those meetings, a Kyrgyz
    parliamentarian, hosted by Montana State senators in 2007, said
    after last year's revolution, ``I can say that I am the father
    of the judiciary bloc in the new constitution. My experience
    from the Open World program helped in revising the
    constitution, using the basic principles and concepts that work
    in the U.S.''

          OWLC deg.INVESTMENT FOR THE CONGRESS AND ASSET FOR
                                  CONSTITUENTS

        Looking forward, the new strategic plan builds on the
    quality of programs and our influential alumni network to reach
    out to a greater number of young leaders. We now see the
    Russian Government starting to build unprecedented reverse
    programs, bringing university student body presidents of
    America to Russia, inspired by and modeled after the OWLC
    program.
        We keep costs low and quality high. Every grant contains
    cost-shared elements, and more than 75 percent of our
    appropriation is spent in the American economy every year. At
    the requested level of $12.6 million, we can fulfill the board-
    mandated goals.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        The OWLC offers an extraordinary investment in the future
    of U.S. relations with the program countries. Thousands of
    American host volunteers are making the world safer, more
    prosperous, and more open by demonstrating our own democracy in
    action, and by developing community partnerships. Their
    devotion and energy, combined with the renown of the
    legislative branch, makes this program a nationwide asset for
    Members of Congress and their constituents.
        Thank you, Sir.
        [The statement follows:]

                 Prepared Statement of Ambassador John O'Keefe

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee, I am
    pleased to submit testimony on the Open World Leadership Center's
    (OWLC) budget request for fiscal year 2012. The OWLC, of which I am the
    Executive Director, is a unique resource that links the Congress and
    its constituents to the strategically important regions of Eurasia that
    contain not only the world's largest gas reserves, but also one of the
    largest stockpiles of nuclear weapons. In this capacity, the OWLC
    administers the OWLC program that allows community leaders throughout
    America to discuss issues ranging from nonproliferation to rule of law
    in face-to-face settings with emerging young, professional counterparts
    from Eurasia to develop projects and partnerships. In the past 11
    years, OWLC grants have enabled some 6,500 American families in almost
    2,000 communities around the country to host program participants.
        Since its inception, the OWLC has awarded grants for overseeing our
    U.S. exchanges to 61 organizations headquartered in 25 different States
    and the District of Columbia. These grantee organizations host
    delegations themselves or award subgrants to local host organizations.
    By 2011, well more than 700 local host organizations--including Rotary
    clubs and other service organizations, sister-city associations,
    international visitor councils, universities and community colleges,
    and other nonprofits in all 50 States and the District of Columbia--had
    conducted OWLC exchanges.
        More than 75 percent of OWLC's fiscal year 2010 appropriated funds
    were expended on U.S. goods and services through contracts and grants--
    much of it at the local community level. American volunteers in 49
    States and the District of Columbia home hosted OWLC participants in
    calendar year 2010, contributing a large portion of the estimated $1.9
    million given to the program through cost shares.
        Nearly 17,000 emerging leaders from Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan,
    Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan,
    Lithuania, and Uzbekistan have participated in OWLC. Earlier this
    month, our inaugural delegation of women-as-leaders from Armenia will
    travel to Des Moines, Iowa. While all the countries where OWLC is
    active are strategically important to the interests of the U.S.
    Government, they are also areas of growing economies where
    opportunities for foreign investment and trade increase yearly.
        With the requested funding level of $12.6 million, the OWLC will be
    able to continue its support of the Congress in inter-parliamentary and
    other legislative activities and bring 1,300 or more participants to
    communities throughout the United States in 2012. Actual allocations of
    participant slots to individual countries will be based on the board of
    trustees recommendations and consultations with the subcommittee and
    the U.S. Embassies in these countries. The requested funding will allow
    us to fulfill the board-mandated strategic plan to expand into
    Uzbekistan and Belarus, to meet our continuing plan to intensify
    legislator to legislator programs, and to reach the rising new
    generation in Russia and elsewhere who remember the Cold War as a
    fading memory, if at all.
        OWLC will facilitate existing projects and partnerships among
    hundreds of American civic organizations, numerous communities, and
    thousands of participating constituents and the regional
    parliamentarians and other leaders from OWLC countries hosted here. We
    ask for an increase of $600,000 to begin our Board of Trustees-approved
    expansion into Belarus, and to resume our Uzbek program suspended in
    2005.
        Major categories of requested funding for a total of $12.6 million
    are:
      --Program expenses ($0.5 million); and
      --Operating expenses ($0.9 million)
      --Contract ($7.2 million--awarded to U.S.-based entities) that
            include:
        --Coordinating the delegate nomination and vetting process;
        --Obtaining visas and other travel documents;
        --Arranging and paying for air travel; and
        --Coordinating with grantees and placing delegates.
      --Grants ($4 million--awarded to U.S. host organizations) that
            include:
        --Professional programming for delegates;
        --Meals outside of those provided by home hosts;
        --Community activities;
        --Professional interpretation; and
        --Administrative support.

                    owlc deg.OWLC AND THE CONGRESS

        As a U.S. legislative branch entity, the OWLC actively supports the
    foreign relations efforts of the Congress by linking our delegates to
    members and to experienced and enthusiastic constituents throughout the
    United States who are engaged in projects and programs in OWLC
    countries. The OWLC program routinely involves members in its hosting
    activities with more than 50 percent of delegates meeting with Members
    of Congress or their staff representatives last year.
        The OWLC also regularly consults with the Commission on Security
    and Cooperation in Europe; the Congressional Georgia Caucus; the
    Congressional Ukrainian Caucus; the Russia Caucus; the Congressional
    Azerbaijan Caucus; the Congressional Caucus on Central Asia; the
    Friends of Kazakhstan Caucus; other congressional entities; and
    individual Members with specific interests in OWLC countries or
    thematic areas.

        ``In December 2010, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine gave a
    delegation of legislators from the Chechen Republic a joint resolution
    encouraging the peace process, a return to civil society and
    international cooperation, and signed by 200 representatives in the
    legislature of the State of Maine. The resolution reflects the State of
    Maine's support for stability and engagement in the region. The Senator
    had tried unsuccessfully to deliver the resolution via the Russian
    Embassy in Washington several times since 2008, so was pleased to be
    able to pass it on to the Chechen group.
        Last March, Representative Peter Roskam greeted education officials
    from the Republic of Georgia in the home of their host, George
    Palamattam, on their first day in Chicago. Representative Roskam
    surprised and delighted the delegates and host families present with
    the news that as a student he had visited Georgia. The discussion that
    followed covered a variety of topics that was very informational and
    educational for the Congressman, the host families, and everyone else
    who was present.
        Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Robert Aderholt,
    Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Representative Robert J. Wittman, and
    Representative Dennis Kucinich met with two members of the Russian
    Federation lower house of parliament (Duma) on their first visit to the
    United States. They discussed topics related to education, labor,
    employment and parliamentary ties. The Russians also met with Maryland
    State Assembly members, State Department officials, foreign policy
    experts, and students and faculty of Georgetown University and the
    University of Maryland.''

        Members of Congress and their staffs also provide OWLC delegates
    with invaluable firsthand information on the U.S. legislative process,
    constituent relations, and other aspects of the U.S. Government in
    face-to-face meetings that forcefully demonstrate how accessible the
    offices of elected officials can and should be. It is a message not
    lost on OWLC participants, who come from a part of the world where such
    openness is still the exception rather than the rule and where
    constituent services are nonexistent or diminishing.
        OWLC's board-approved strategic plan for 2012-2015 emphasizes
    increasing the OWLC's legislative activities and focus. One of the key
    goals is to serve Members of Congress by becoming a recognized resource
    that connects them to emerging leaders of participating countries.
    Currently, we have scheduled five delegations of Parliamentarians from
    Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan (2), Moldova, and Russia and are planning three
    more from Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Ukraine. Furthermore, OWLC is able
    to link Members traveling to OWLC countries with alumni who can offer
    an unfiltered view of the issues of interest to United States. To this
    end, OWLC will seek to increase the number of legislator participants
    from program countries and meetings with U.S. legislators; broaden the
    legislative component of local host programs; and partner more
    effectively with U.S. organizations that will increase OWLC's
    effectiveness in serving members.

            owlc deg.RECENT PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS AND RESULTS

        In 2010, OWLC continued to focus on hosting in themes of interest
    to the Congress and of transnational impact, including human-
    trafficking prevention, government and court transparency,
    nonproliferation, and environmental protection. OWLC also sponsors
    hosting that promote economic and civic partnerships between American
    communities or States and their counterparts abroad.

    Kyrgyzstan
        Erkin Alymbekov participated in the OWLC program as a member of the
    first delegation of parliamentarians from Kyrgyzstan in June 2007, when
    he was Vice-Speaker of the Kyrgyz Parliament. He was hosted in Montana
    on a program focusing on accountable governance, and the following year
    he hosted Carol Williams, president of the Montana State Senate, when
    she visited Kyrgyzstan. Following a revolution in Kyrgyzstan and the
    ouster of President Bakiev in April 2010, he was tasked by interim
    President Roza Otunbayeva to be one of the co-authors of the draft of
    the new constitution. Mr. Alymbekov later stated that his OWLC
    experience and a copy of the Montana constitution helped him in
    revising his country's own using the basic principles and concepts that
    work in the United States. Passed by a referendum held in June 2010,
    the new constitution shifted many powers from the executive branch to
    that of the legislature, enabling Kyrgyzstan to become the first
    parliamentary democracy in Central Asia.

    Georgia
        Attorney John Hall, of Atlanta, Georgia, first hosted OWLC
    delegates from the Republic of Georgia in 2007. After hosting several
    such delegations, he developed an interest in the region as well as a
    network that led to his becoming the Honorary Consul General of the
    Republic of Georgia in 2009 and the opening of his firm's business in
    Tbilisi last year. In regard to OWLC's role in this, he stated:

        ``As a direct result of this program and the continued
    relationships (we have hosted eight additional OWLC delegations since
    February 2007, we have become leaders of the Atlanta Tbilisi Sister
    City Program, [have] partnered with U.S. Department of Commerce to put
    on two economic forums, helped coordinate the visit of five Members of
    Congress to Tbilisi, [and] arranged an American development company to
    start a project in Georgia. This and many other activities are a direct
    result of Open World's Congressional exchange program. I urge the
    Congress to keep this valuable program together and would welcome the
    opportunity to show Members the many different facets of, and
    opportunities in, the Republic of Georgia.''

    Moldova
        Before March 2010, Moldovan mayors and local legislators belonged
    to different regional associations in Moldova. After their visit on the
    OWLC program, and with the support of an organization active in local
    reforms, these alumni decided to form the Congress of Local Authorities
    of Moldova (CALM), uniting all four regional associations. The Congress
    plans to create a strategy for decentralization, provide counsel to
    local governments, lobby on behalf of local governments, support local
    social and economic development, and increase the effectiveness of
    public procurement. Nine OWLC alumni are on the association's governing
    board, including the association's president, Tatiana Badan. There are
    currently 300 members in the Congress of Local Authorities of Moldova
    and 63 of them are on the governing board representing 29 regions.
        U.S. Ambassador to Moldova Asif Chaudhry highlighted this result in
    a letter to OWLC Executive Director John O'Keefe, stating that ``Open
    World directly supports key U.S. policy priorities in Moldova and the
    region'' and that he applauds ``Open World's focus on building
    partnerships between Moldovan and American people and institutions.''
    (letter of February 17, 2011).

    Russia
        OWLC alumnus and former ship navigator Eduard Perepelkin became a
    crusader for Russia's ``street'' children. Perepelkin's 2008 OWLC
    visit, which included an inspiring session at the National Center for
    Missing and Exploited Children, made him even more determined. On his
    return home, he did what is still, in post-Soviet Russia, the
    unthinkable--he strode uninvited into the mayor's office and persuaded
    him to increase funding for youth services. In July 2010, Perepelkin
    was back in Washington, the site of his 2008 OWLC visit, for a meeting
    of the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Presidential Commission's Working Group on
    Civil Society. And now that Perepelkin's efforts have caught the
    attention of national officials, this former ship navigator hopes to
    help his country steer many more children away from the streets.
        One of the hallmarks of the OWLC program is the multiplier effect
    and impact on both the hosting community in America and that of the
    participants. From the get-go and throughout the program participants
    understand that, in many ways, the program only really begins once they
    return to their countries of origin to bring about partnerships and
    joint projects. One such example is a $150,000 grant from the Bristol-
    Myers Squibb Foundation to an OWLC partner that will allow nurses in La
    Crosse, Wisconsin, and Balakovo, Russia, to work together on cancer
    prevention and treatment. OWLC alumni will participate in education
    programs with nursing faculty from Gundersen Lutheran Health System and
    will apply their new knowledge and skills at the Balakovo Secondary
    Medical School for nurses. At the end of the 2-year project, it is
    anticipated that OWLC alumni will have trained approximately 500 nurses
    in state-of-the-art cancer care.

    Ukraine
        Olena Sichkar, Deputy Head of State Social Services for Family,
    Children and Youth, met with John Picarelli, Social Science Analyst,
    Member of the U.S. Government Special Policy Operating Group on
    Trafficking and Carson Osberg, Case Manager, Counter-Trafficking Unit
    of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). On March 18,
    2010, Mrs. Sichkar's agency and the IOM signed an indefinite-term
    partnership agreement. This partnership is focused on joint project
    work and organizing seminars, conferences, and study programs to
    prevent international human trafficking and to inform the Ukrainian
    population about this serious social issue.
          owlc deg.owlc's 2011 activities and plans for 2012
        For 2011, OWLC continues to host in thematic areas that advance
    U.S. national interests in general, and congressional interests in
    particular, and that generate concrete results while strengthening the
    ties between American communities and their partners abroad.
        In 2011, the OWLC will host additional members of the legislative
    branches of current OWLC countries--especially legislators from Central
    Asia and the caucasus, based on congressional interest. In February
    2011, the OWLC hosted seven groups of Russian legislators and an
    additional delegation of State Duma (House) members. The following
    month, we brought five groups of Ukrainian regional legislators. And in
    the fall, we are bringing a dynamic group of Ukrainian women leaders
    through contacts developed by Representative Marcy Kaptur. By the end
    of 2011, we will have brought more than 100 regional and Federal
    legislators from Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, and
    Ukraine.
        OWLC is becoming an increasingly recognized resource for American
    citizens engaged in citizen diplomacy. Earlier this month, former
    Congressman James Symington worked with OWLC alumni to organize an art
    exhibit in Moscow focused on Abraham Lincoln and the Czar Liberator,
    Alexander II. Congressman James Moran hosted an art exhibit in the
    Rayburn House Office Building featuring artworks by Russian orphans in
    collaboration with civil society leaders based in his Congressional
    District who approached OWLC for guidance. Up to 60 United States
    university student body presidents will have visited Russia by December
    2011 in a Russian Government sponsored exchange program that is both
    informed and inspired by the OWLC model. Senate Majority Leader Harry
    Reid, Senator Roger Wicker, Senator Bill Nelson, and Senator Bernie
    Sanders were some of the Members of Congress who nominated student body
    presidents for this exchange.
        OWLC, through private funding, will continue to develop its more
    than 16,500-person alumni network by holding forums and workshops and
    making use of contemporary technology provided by such services as
    Skype and social networking sites in the official languages of OWLC
    countries. This alumni network plays a major role in maintaining
    program momentum and vibrancy by helping to identify new emerging
    leaders who might participate in OWLC. Alumni are also central to
    furthering projects and partnerships that demand regular and effective
    communication. One very important group that exemplifies this trait is
    the 100-strong participants of the OWLC nonproliferation program from
    the last 2 years who will be convening in May. The communications
    technology that OWLC has set up enables these relationships to thrive
    in a cost-effective manner during these times of budgetary constraints.

                                   CONCLUSION

        OWLC offers an extraordinary ``bang for the buck'' in terms of
    efficiency, cost-effectiveness, value, and an investment in the future
    U.S. relations with the countries where the program operates. OWLC
    boasts an overhead rate of about 7 percent, every grant contains cost-
    shared elements, and more than 75 percent of our appropriation is
    plowed back into the American economy every year.
        In the future, there will be in-depth program changes that will
    increase congressional involvement in OWLC and will increase support to
    the constituent hosts who have established programs and partnerships in
    OWLC countries. With funding at the requested level of $12.6 million,
    Americans in hundreds of Congressional Districts throughout the United
    States will engage up-and-coming Eurasian political and civic leaders--
    such as parliamentarians, environmentalists, and anti-human trafficking
    activists--in projects and ongoing partnerships. Americans will, once
    again, open their doors and give generously to help sustain this
    successful congressional program that focuses on a region of profound
    interest to U.S. foreign policy. To that end, the subcommittee's
    interest and support have been essential ingredients in OWLC's success.

       LOC deg.IMPACT OF FISCAL YEAR 2011 CONTINUING RESOLUTION

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        The first question that I'd like to ask is regarding the
    impact of funding the ongoing resolution at the fiscal year
    2010 enacted level.
        I think that it's important to point out that every agency
    of Government is going to be faced with the problem of how to
    continue to operate during the next 6 months. If we're able to
    get a continuing resolution for even that period of time in the
    next few days, what will the impact be for cuts along the way?
        In your testimony, Dr. Billington, you alluded to the
    implications. But could you give us a little bit more on the
    specific impact of how mid-term cuts affect the operations of
    LOC?
        Of course, it's dependent of how much the cut is, but what
    would the implication be?
        Dr. Billington. For the remainder of this current year?
        Senator Nelson. Yes, for the current year, and then we'll
    talk about next year, fiscal year 2012.
        Dr. Billington. Well, I'm not sure what the exact number
    would be. We calculated what it would be if it were sustained
    through the following year as well. But, the impact would be
    substantial because, as I pointed out, we are doing much more
    with much less.
        There are really only two areas where we could, or we can
    make significant cuts, in an institution where 70 percent of
    all of our major areas of appropriation are in personnel. All
    of the program areas--I could go over them with you--are unique
    and it would not be likely, and probably almost impossible, for
    anybody else to replicate these programs if we were to stop
    doing them. So, we might have to make some cuts in programs.
        I don't know if it would be in the remaining months of this
    fiscal year, but it wouldn't be very far after that that we'd
    have to consider scaling services back. You can't really cut
    these programs very heavily, without experiencing some damage
    since we've been basically operating with almost no increase
    for the last 4 years, only a 2 percent programmatic increase.
    So, we would have to start examining which of these programs we
    would do away with or significantly reduce. I have examined
    three of the larger appropriations and am aware of how
    difficult this would be.
        Maybe Mr. Dizard, who's been occupied with this in a little
    more detail would like to comment.
        Mr. Dizard. Sure, I can do that. I'd be happy to.
        Mr. Chairman, for this fiscal year, if you get into a 3
    percent range, then we're talking probably hiring freezes, as
    well as reducing our contracts for equipment, custodial
    service, some of our IT planned investments, and security
    equipment. And we would probably be looking at 3 or 4 days of
    furloughs across LOC. And as you get beyond that, if you wanted
    to go into 5 percent cuts, as Dr. Billington mentioned, in 6
    months, with very limited ability to deal with personnel, our
    recourse would be just to increase the amount of furloughs as
    we reach towards October 1--if we're just talking this fiscal
    year.

           LOC deg.PERMANENT DAMAGE OF REDUCING ACQUISITIONS

        Senator Nelson. Dr. Billington, you mentioned that if you
    have subscriptions and you stop them for 1 year, it's not as
    though you lost 12 volumes, or, 12 issues, but it's an even
    bigger impact than that.
        Dr. Billington. Yes. The fundamental core things that LOC
    has to do are to acquire, preserve, and make accessible the
    world's knowledge and America's creativity.
        The price of all of these things tend to go up and up. We
    keep reviewing our policies in all of these areas. But if
    you're going to have the kind of universal collection that we
    have historically acquired, beginning with Jefferson's old
    library, which was in 16 languages--and now we've collected in
    470 languages; if you're going to continue that, you simply
    can't miss a year, because then you have to acquire double the
    amount the following year. And besides, what you miss will
    probably not be attainable, except in the year in which it is
    published.
        We purchase about 1 million items a year, and more than
    twice that amount comes to LOC through gift exchange, copyright
    deposit, cataloging in publication, and other sources. We
    receive about 22,000 items a day, of which we only keep 10,000.
    But, if you stop a year's subscription of a crucial scientific
    or important magazine--and, you know, it's hard to know what's
    going to be the most important--if you stop it, you aren't
    diminishing the value of it by just one hundredth. You're
    diminishing it about in half--particularly in areas that serve
    the fast-moving needs of the Congress and of the Government.
    And so, you can't ever make up a lost period. You have to
    either sustain the acquisition process, or change the nature of
    your mission.
        And preserving that mission is also affected in large part
    by the personnel ceiling. Collecting requires this degree of
    universality. The collections are an enormous asset. We call it
    the strategic information reserve of the United States. And the
    differential between what LOC collects and makes accessible,
    and what other research libraries in America do, is increasing,
    because the strain on public libraries and university-based
    libraries is very great, even on other national libraries.
        So, the uniqueness of LOC's collections and making them
    more accessible, more useful to the Congress and our country
    are of paramount importance in an age when balance of trade and
    the economic productivity depends more and more on knowledge of
    what's going on all over the world.
        You can't let the collections go for a year without
    producing an irreversible slippage and decline into becoming
    more a museum of the book than a dynamic of a creative culture
    that has invented most of our current information technology
    and has the most envied higher research capabilities in the
    world. Physical preservation is another thing. We're a throw-
    away society. We don't realize that almost every medium on
    which knowledge and creativity is recorded, is highly
    perishable.

                LOC deg.BROAD SCOPE OF THE LOC MISSION

        So, all of that is the essential mission that we have to
    perform, not for LOC, but for the United States of America. And
    if it can't be sustained, that represents a fundamental mission
    failure, and puts a greater limitation on the way America will
    be able to answer--and the Congress in particular--with firm,
    objective, factually based knowledge and information and
    analysis of what is going on in the world, and even within our
    own country.
        So, I think it's expensive, but it is something that is
    unique in human history. It's a great American accomplishment.
        I think, Mr. Chairman, I'm the only person who, when he
    signs for an acquisition for LOC, I don't sign for LOC. I sign
    for the United States of America. And the idea that legislation
    has to be based on knowledge that goes right back to the nature
    of the Founding Fathers, and putting this whole experiment in
    democracy and the creative society together.

                   LOC deg.IMPACT OF PERSONNEL CUTS

        So, it's really kind of a noble mission. And then we get
    into the question of cuts, major cuts, and then you're talking
    personnel. And when we're talking personnel, you're dealing
    with a wide variety of talents--a diversity of backgrounds,
    talents. Very much of what LOC staff does is one-of-a-kind work
    that really isn't being done anywhere else to the same degree.
        So, it's a very difficult thing to avoid. But once you cut
    back into the bone of the mission programs--that's what we're
    talking about, that's where all the appropriated money,
    practically all of it goes--then you're cutting back, on our
    fundamental mission.
        One of my instructions consistently has been--and I have
    great consensus among all our top managers on this--that LOC
    shouldn't do anything that anybody else is doing as well or
    better. But we have to do things that represent the public good
    and address the objective needs of the United States. So, if we
    stop doing something or severely curtail it to make
    significant, major reductions, we will jeopardize, really, our
    fundamental mission. We're now integrating more of the digital
    collections so that we're able to knowledge-navigate and
    provide access to an expanded range of knowledge in the digital
    world, as well as the analog.
        If you get into the area of cutting personnel, we have very
    little flexibility to deal with this. For instance, our average
    term of service for personnel is 16 years. The average age of
    personnel is 49. So, we have a lot of expert knowledge banked
    at LOC. We're starting a mentoring program so that they can
    pass their one-of-a-kind knowledge on to successors.
        A lot of the people who are keeping us at the forefront of
    the digital revolution are young and recent hires. So, the
    point is, if you start cutting into the personnel, which is the
    bulk of our budget, you are going to lose people prematurely,
    on whom we're in many cases the most dependent.

              LOC deg.LIMITED FLEXIBILITY TO ABSORB CUTS

        I think if you put it to our staff, they understand the
    budgetary pressures. But I cannot suggest to the staff that we
    all take a salary cut, for instance, everybody take a little
    percentage to absorb it equitably, because there are legal
    requirements that prevent me from doing that. So, there's very
    little managerial flexibility.
        We would probably be talking, in terms of cuts, about
    furloughs. But even that gets to be a serious and difficult
    thing to manage. So, we don't really have the kind of
    flexibility to absorb substantial reductions and sustain the
    mission in a dynamic, changing world.
        I don't think our mission calls for infinite, continued
    expansion. We've only been asking for a little, about a 2
    percent annual increase over the last 4 years for anything
    other than inflation, in anticipation that there was going to
    be a need for constrained budgets. We have a whole new
    management agenda which is calling for greater synergies, much
    more coming together, regulating IT investment--there's a
    special committee for that, and there's another special
    committee that Mr. Dizard is chairing, to bring the digital
    people together with the analog people, with the traditional
    books and materials.
        This is a pioneering institution that has already
    demonstrated that we can do more with less, that is getting
    very deep into the muscle, and we risk getting down to the
    bone.
        Senator Nelson. Well, clearly, cutting mid-term has
    ramifications that could be draconian.

            LOC deg.MINIMAL INCREASE IN FISCAL 2012 REQUEST

        Now, in looking at fiscal year 2012, which provides for
    minimal growth. Is there a way that some of LOC's priorities
    that are already being deferred, as a result of the need to
    tighten our belts, can continue to be deferred in an effort to
    help us reduce the budgetary request for that fiscal year?
        Dr. Billington. Well, maybe.
        Senator Nelson. I'm sorry, if I am not being clear in what
    I'm trying to find?
        Dr. Billington. Yes.
        Senator Nelson. You must have deferred something to hold
    the budget down to the level that you have.
        Dr. Billington. Right.
        Senator Nelson. Is it possible that there are some other
    things that could be held back, pushed into the future, to
    address a lower request for 2012?
        Mr. Dizard. We went through the process for fiscal year
    2012, and as you recognized, there were many things that were
    deferred that we did not ask for. We did feel we needed to
    highlight the need for additional expertise in CRS and our IT
    security needs.
        I think, as Dr. Billington mentioned, and I mentioned
    before, our options really are going to be to limit hiring,
    next year. That has to be our first option.
        If we start to get into decreasing our acquisitions,
    tightening our collections policies or restricting them, then
    we are changing the fundamental nature of the institution.
        The other area where, that's nonpersonnel, that's of
    significance, is preservation. And, if you delay there, you're
    having an impact way into the future as well.
        So, I think we generally would restrict some of our
    contracting. But the immediate recourse would probably have to
    be shrinking staff, and not hiring, and reducing staff through
    attrition, or even considering early outs or buy-outs, or the
    like. I think that's where we would have to go initially.

              LOC deg.OPPORTUNITIES TO DEFER REQUIREMENTS

        Dr. Billington. We have, in fact, Mr. Chairman, for
    instance, deferred one very significant need. We're 9 years
    behind in the schedule for storage modules at Fort Meade for
    this immense collection that we're custodians of. Items stored
    at Fort Meade have a 100 percent retrieval rate. Retrieval from
    the shelves is robotic, it's extremely efficient. But what we
    agreed to do is to string it out so that the cost would go over
    2 years, rather than the first one. And we can do some things
    like that, but there are not that many, because we're operating
    on four consecutive very stringent budgets, where we've
    consistently been exercising this kind of restraint.
        So, yes, we'll have to take a hard look at all options to
    cut back in ways that don't affect programs. Both CRS and the
    Copyright Office have defined missions and clientele that they
    must serve. And they, like other parts of LOC, have suffered
    considerable personnel losses over recent years.

                          LOC deg.CRS REQUEST

        The one programmatic increase that we've requested for CRS
    is not really an increase. It is to bring them up to where they
    once were and it's to enable them to address a whole new set of
    technical, scientific, and financial questions, accounting, all
    manner of scientific and technical problems that are arising in
    the world, to get CRS able to do what you need.
        It is not really an increase in the sense that it is meant
    to get to where CRS was. It's just to meet that distinct
    requirement of our client, the Congress.

            LOC deg.INFRASTRUCTURE FOR THE INFORMATION AGE

        Anyhow, we certainly want to be as cooperative as we can.
    But the mission is providing essential infrastructure in the
    information age to the company that generates the knowledge and
    information but is not able to preserve it or make it as
    accessible as it should be to as many people as it should be.
    It's such an important mission for the United States, when you
    consider the different audiences that depend on the services
    that we provide--including the networks.
        As you can see, the partnerships that we're establishing--
    and we hope to establish more--depend on our leadership,
    because ours is the responsibility to determine what's
    important for the Nation, and then to work with others. And so,
    much of what we do is shared, it is assembling and enabling
    others to add to what we do, rather than try to start up and do
    it all themselves.
        Senator Nelson. Well, if we turn to CRS, your request for
    an additional 17 FTEs, does it take 17 people to replace Dan?
    Is it possible that some of that hiring could extend over a
    longer period of time, or are you experiencing the same thing
    that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Government
    Accountability Office (GAO) are experiencing, and that is more
    requests from the Congress for more reports? And that puts the
    pressure on. We're our own worst enemy in that regard. We want
    more information, but we want to pay less for it. So, I do
    understand the squeeze that it creates. But is it possible to
    extend that hiring over a longer period of time, or with
    attrition?
        What I'm looking for is some way, not with the current
    resolution, but with fiscal year 2012, to reduce some of the
    expenses that are projected and put them into next year's
    budget. As you said, you've been through 4 very tight years
    budget-wise, and so it's not as easy as it may seem, but we are
    going to be under an awful lot of pressure to hold the line in
    the legislative branch, and so I'm looking for help.
        Dr. Billington. Well, I would stress that this was very
    carefully reviewed by the entire executive committee. But I
    think we ought to let----
        Senator Nelson. Sure.
        Dr. Billington [continuing].--Mr. Mulhollan speak to this.
    But let me just stress that this was the only, real
    programmatic increase.
        Senator Nelson. I know.
        Dr. Billington. The cybersecurity request was virtually a
    mandate, to cover the communications and so forth. But this is
    something that was very carefully weighed by the executive
    committee. It's his baby, so let him speak.
        Mr. Mulhollan. Yes. My baby.

                   LOC deg.SPECIFICS OF CRS REQUEST

        Actually, this is a stretched out request. Because we asked
    for 34 FTE over 2 years. The subcommittee said it was not able
    to fund additional FTE in fiscal year 2011 due to budgetary
    constraints. We asked for 17 last fiscal year, and 17 for this
    fiscal year. The reason is, back in 2008 we were at 705 FTEs.
    We're now at 675 and we're going down.
        Both our sister agencies, the CBO and GAO, they're facing
    the same problem, because you're facing the same problem. It's
    probably trite to say, but after 40 years of looking at it, I
    honestly believe the problems are inherently more complex. You
    can't raise an issue without international, constitutional,
    environmental, as well as economic impacts, so in this global
    economy you're looking at the end of a period where issues
    heretofore could have been more confined. Dodd-Frank is an
    incredible example of how trying to get our financial house in
    order has impacts in Europe, Canada, and elsewhere, as well as
    Asia. That's why, for instance, in the financial accounting and
    auditing capacity, we found ourselves wanting.
        We do our best to present to you a faculty of expertise.
    For instance, on carbon capture and sequestration, we have a
    geological engineering capacity to take a look at that,
    independent of any advocacy, so you can trust the assessment.
    And our statute calls for anticipating the consequences of
    alternative provisions. So, it is our best judgment in asking
    for these positions--these are competencies we're not going to
    just need now, but for the next decade. And this was a lot of
    work.
        Certainly, if we extend it for 2 years we can extend it for
    4 years. My only cry of the heart, is that these problems don't
    wait. In the last months we've had to call upon, again,
    geologists for earthquake issues--what are the earthquake
    predictions in the United States? We've had to look at the
    question of nuclear safety. We just have a report out on
    nuclear safety and the vulnerabilities across the United States
    on earthquakes.
        We have looked at the history of no-fly zones in Bosnia and
    Iraq--what are the consequences internationally? What are the
    costs? We have an excellent piece out on the Odyssey Dawn. We
    are the only institution I think that has the institutional
    memory of war power resolution and Presidential compliance.
        That capacity that you have invested in at CRS, to be
    perfectly frank, is even more important when you're reducing
    Senate staff and appropriation staff, because since 1970 CRS
    has been a shared pool of expertise. That was the notion. You
    can be more cost effective having an expert available to one
    side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle, and to both
    Chambers. And I think that's proven to be the case. But we
    could draw that out further, yes, Sir.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.

           LOC deg.BROAD PERSPECTIVE OF MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES

        Dr. Billington. I'd like to add one other thing that I
    think that they've done that's quite extraordinary. Speaking
    from a background as a one-time university professor and
    veteran of a number of faculty discussions, it's very difficult
    in highly compartmentalized, discipline-oriented universities
    to get the perspectives of different disciplines focused on a
    problem. And I think the organization of CRS, which gets teams
    working in response to the problem, and getting different
    perspectives is the only way to go, because we're learning more
    and more, as you see, now events, for instance, in the Middle
    East, where the events have all kinds of aspects that are very
    different from just economics, or just politics, or just
    military. There are tumultuous changes and things going on. And
    you're better able to deal with them if you have people in
    different disciplines working together to answer whatever the
    question is that is on the Congress' mind.
        So, I think that getting these specialized personnel is not
    just so that you get a little more exotic detail. It's a
    question of getting different--something which does not happen
    enough in our society--getting different disciplines and
    different approaches to talk to each other, to answer a
    question that is right on your mind in the Congress.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.

        OWLC deg.OPEN WORLD STRATEGIC PLAN OBJECTIVES AND COSTS

        Ambassador O'Keefe, I noticed in seeking a $600,000
    increase for fiscal year 2012, it would be to initiate an
    expansion into Armenia, Belarus, and Uzbekistan. Can you give
    us some idea of what, how that $600,000 would be used
    specifically? Will there be any kind of actual exchanges with
    these countries in fiscal year 2012, or will this be simply the
    start-up cost to set up an exchange at some point in the
    future?
        Ambassador O'Keefe. Sir, this is all going into exchanges.
    We already have the backbone and infrastructure, and I've
    discussed this with the charge d'affaires in Uzbekistan, which
    I think is the most important of the three countries, and also
    with Ambassador Yovanovitch in Armenia.
        So, if we were to begin the programs, the costs would be
    about what we have per participant. There are no real start-up
    costs.
        Also, for a place like Armenia and Belarus, we might be
    able to actually have a lower cost, since we would have Embassy
    personnel do more of the work as their cost share. We're
    starting with that model. It gives us more bang for the buck.

      OWLC deg.RAMIFICATIONS OF FUNDING AT FISCAL YEAR 2010 LEVEL

        Senator Nelson. As we all are aware of the fiscal
    constrains, if additional funding isn't provided and if you're
    funded at the fiscal year 2010 enacted level, what would it
    take within your budget to absorb that kind of a budget cut?
        Ambassador O'Keefe. Yes, Sir. We've looked at that, and,
    just as a first principle, we want to preserve the momentum of
    the numbers of people coming. It makes a big difference for
    alumni networks, for qualify of nominations and, frankly,
    quality of programming.
        Also, by preserving those numbers we don't reduce the
    grants to the communities, and these are community colleges,
    service clubs, rotaries, and lots of different community
    organizations. We did 700 communities last year.
        So, our going, in principle, is not to diminish that, and
    if we do so then, as a last resort. So, it means that you give
    up somewhat on quality in terms of oversight. We do like to be
    able to monitor a certain number of programs per year--
    especially programs where we get the reports that they're not
    as good as the other ones. And you do that by actually
    observing how it's done. We give up a little bit of quality on
    that.
        The other approach, and the one that we would take, is we'd
    have to look at our staffing, and we'd have to look at travel
    and other things. At the end of the day, if we can't absorb
    rising costs of transportation, hotels and other things, we
    would reduce numbers. That's a last resort.

                  OWLC deg.IN-KIND GIVING AND SUPPORT

        Senator Nelson. You've done an outstanding job in
    leveraging nonappropriated funds over the last several years. I
    think it's $1.7 million in donated goods and services from
    hosts and grantees in 2009, and as your testimony indicates
    that this level is estimated to be even higher in 2010, at $1.9
    million.
        Has the sluggish economy hampered your efforts to leverage
    more nonappropriated funds, or are you able to continue to do
    just about what you would expect to do?
        Ambassador O'Keefe. It's odd. I think we must be counter-
    cyclical, because we still have this great demand from
    communities to host about twice what we can sustain. And they
    continue to be generous, even in these difficult circumstances.
    So, I am so impressed by the dedication of the communities that
    are welcoming all of the delegates, and their willingness to
    continue to do the home hosting, to pick up the meals, and
    other things.
        Senator Nelson. Do you see the opportunity, then to be able
    to continue to grow at the same level that you've enjoyed in
    the last couple of years?
        Ambassador O'Keefe. I think that there's, frankly, an
    absorptive capacity. And so, I think that number may remain the
    same.
        What we are looking at now is partnering with other
    organizations that would put up the money for airfare, putting
    up the money for, perhaps, part of the programming in the
    United States. Organizations that already bring people to the
    United States. And then, for about one-third of the cost that
    we ordinarily would have, take their delegates and give them a
    4- or 5-day OWLC experience.
        Senator Nelson. If we increased those efforts, would it
    help you make up that $600,000 difference?
        Ambassador O'Keefe. I hope so. But I can't guarantee
    anything, Senator.
        Senator Nelson. I appreciate that.
        Well, I've asked a number of questions. Is there any
    question that I haven't asked that I should have?
        Well, if not, I appreciate very much your candor.
    Obviously, we're in this together. We want to find a way to
    make it work for, as Dr. Billington says, the United States of
    America. It's about more than just us. It's about our country.
        And we understand the importance of LOC as a part of this
    overall institution we call our country.
        Thank you so very, very much for being here. We hear what
    you're saying. We clearly empathize with it. We understand what
    the consequences are if cuts are not made in an appropriate and
    responsive way.
        One thing that I've found not just in this position, but
    also as Governor is that the more I knew about a program, the
    harder it was to cut.

                         ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS

        Senator Nelson. So, you have given me a lot of information
    to make it even harder to think about cutting.
        Thank you very much.
        Dr. Billington. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, very, very much.
    We're willing to work with you on these difficult problems.
    Thank you so much.
        [The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
    were submitted to the agencies for response subsequent to the
    hearing:]

                 Questions Submitted to Dr. James H. Billington
                   Questions Submitted by Senator John Hoeven

                   loc deg.IMPACT OF REDUCED FUNDING

        Question. The Library of Congress's (LOC) fiscal year 2012
    appropriations request is $666.7 million, an increase of $23.4 million,
    or 3.6 percent, more than the fiscal year 2010 enacted level.
    Unfortunately for all of us, the Congress is still negotiating the end
    game for the fiscal year 2011 budget, and as you are well aware we are
    contemplating how much to reduce your funding from the current level,
    not how much to increase it. Please provide the subcommittee with the
    impact of a 5 percent and a 10 percent reduction to LOC's total 2010
    appropriation.
        Answer. A 5 percent reduction to the fiscal 2010 base appropriation
    level--a fiscal 2011 funding level of $650.1 million--would require
    that LOC freeze hiring, freeze travel and training, substantially
    reduce all contracts, grants, and general purchases, and implement a
    staff furlough of 11 days. Fiscal year 2011 funding level at 10 percent
    below the fiscal 2010 budget--or $613.5 million--would require all of
    those cuts plus an additional 11-day staff furlough (total furlough of
    22 days).

                      loc deg.FORT MEADE MODULE 5

        Dr. Billington, you mentioned that one of the top-priority projects
    for LOC in fiscal year 2012 is $8.88 million for Collection Storage
    Module 5 (phase I of II) at Fort Meade, to expand the storage capacity
    for LOC's collections. I note that LOC's request of $666.7 million,
    which is an increase of $23.4 million, or 3.6 percent, more than the
    fiscal year 2010 enacted level and the fiscal year 2011 current funding
    level, does not include the $67.9 million requested in the Architect of
    the Capitol's (AOC) budget for the ``Library Buildings and Grounds''
    account. The subcommittee is not in a position this year to be able to
    fully fund all of these increases, and we must balance LOC's requests
    with AOC's requests and each of the other agencies funded in the
    legislative branch bill.
        Question. In order to fund the $8.88 million for Collection Storage
    Module 5 at Fort Meade, would LOC be willing to forgo other increases
    in its fiscal year 2012 budget request (not AOC's requests) to offset
    the cost of the storage module?
        Answer. LOC focused its priorities and limited the fiscal 2012
    budget request to the most critical and timely needs. Aside from
    mandatory pay and price-level adjustments, LOC's 3.6 percent increase
    represented funding requests for a mandatory information technology
    (IT) security initiative and for expanded research expertise that would
    enable the Congressional Research Service to better respond to the
    research and analysis needs of the Congress.
        The $8.88 million request to fund the Collection Storage Module 5
    at Fort Meade was included in AOC's budget. LOC partnered with AOC to
    both prioritize the projects and initiatives that were included in
    AOC's budget and to formulate a phased approach to funding the
    Collection Storage Module 5 project so as make this major capital
    investment as economically viable as possible for the legislative
    branch budget.
        Given the careful deliberations LOC went through to formulate the
    fiscal year 2012 budget request, LOC is not in a position to forego
    other requested increases to fund the $8.88 million for Collection
    Storage Module 5. However, LOC is committed to working with the
    subcommittee to determine the most-efficient approach to fund critical
    needs, just as we worked diligently with your subcommittee staff to
    assess priorities and evaluate trade-offs in this year's (fiscal year
    2011) budget process.
        Question. What exactly will the $8.88 million provide with regard
    to Collection Storage Module 5? Will all of this funding be obligated
    in fiscal year 2012?
        Answer. The benefit of the two-phased construction approach is to
    distribute the total cost of construction over 2 fiscal years, and to
    allow for the construction of a complete and usable facility, following
    each phase. This approach also allows for the funding to be provided in
    consecutive fiscal years, which would provide for the completion of the
    final project phase, without delay or interruption.
        Under the two-phased construction approach, the $8.88 million
    investment of phase I would complete all site infrastructure, building
    structure, overhead fire suppression sprinklers, lighting, and the
    basic building systems of heating and ventilation. This would allow for
    temporary storage of boxed or palletized library materials and
    unprocessed collections up to a height of 12 feet. The estimate for
    phase I does not include the cost of high-bay shelving, pallet racking,
    or climate control for the preservation-quality environment needed for
    permanent collections storage. It is estimated the construction period
    would be 2 years.
        Question. For phase I of II, $8,89 million is requested--do you
    know yet how much funding will be required to complete phase II?
        Answer. Approximately 90 percent of the funding requested for phase
    I would be obligated in fiscal year 2012. The remainder would be
    utilized in fiscal year 2013 to accommodate construction contingency,
    construction administration, and related testing and commissioning
    activity.
        AOC cost estimate for phase II is $9.58 million. This investment
    includes customized high-bay collection storage shelving up to 32 feet
    with integrated fire suppression systems, and a specialized climate
    control system for permanent collections' preservation. AOC estimates
    the total project cost of Collection Storage Module 5 (phase I and II)
    in the amount of $18.46 million.

                      loc deg.IT SECURITY FUNDING

        Question. LOC is requesting $2.75 million and five additional full-
    time equivalents within the Office of Strategic Initiatives to expand
    LOC's information security incident handling and response function.
        If the subcommittee is able to provide the requested increase of
    $2.75 million, how is that funding to be allocated?
        Answer. The requested $2.75 million will enhance our security
    incident handling and response function. This enhancement, resulting
    form discussions with the House and Senate regarding assuring
    confidentiality of LOC research provided to Members, will provide
    protections similar to the House and Senate.
        The funding will pay for security staff, contractor support, and
    security tools.

               loc deg.IMPACT OF NOT FUNDING IT SECURITY

        Question. If the subcommittee is unable to provide this increase,
    what is the impact to LOC?
        Answer. Lack of funding for this security enhancement effort will
    likely result in delays in the detection of threats, and delays in the
    response to security incidents, including the investigation and
    remediation of cybersecurity events at LOC. This could cause
    information to be compromised and pose a risk to LOC and agencies with
    which LOC interacts.

                      loc deg.CONTENT MANAGEMENT

        Question. Security of electronic information is an important part
    of every Federal Government agency's daily operations--to try to
    prevent, or mitigate the effects of, the accidental or purposeful
    deletion or corruption of information stored electronically.
        How would LOC know if any of its electronic information had been
    deleted or corrupted?
        Answer. Long-term storage solutions have policy settings that
    include when to delete information from the systems based on events,
    age, etc. At LOC the long-term storage solution preservation policies
    are set to never delete. Currently, data integrity is checked when the
    file is ingested and when the file is migrated to newer solutions. (LOC
    migrates archive data, e.g., our digital collections, every 3-5 years
    as part of ensuring the data is not stored on obsolete technology.
    During this process, the data integrity is checked.)
        LOC is also working on a plan to re-architect the content
    management of our digital collections. This will include separate data
    integrity check policies for the various collections.

                     loc deg.RESTORING INFORMATION

        Question. Does LOC have a plan for restoring information that has
    been deleted or corrupted?
        Answer. LOC protects its data from loss by deletion or corruption
    by making multiple copies of the data in multiple locations. Even if
    information has been accidentally deleted from disk by a user or
    administrator and marked as deleted, the file is not physically deleted
    from the primary or secondary copy. It can be recovered. If data is
    deleted or corrupted on disk it can be retrieved and restored from the
    primary copy or the remote secondary copy. Business and Web data are
    backed up through scheduled processes using industry standard backup
    and recovery software. Partial and full backups are taken and a second
    copy is written to a remote cite. This data can be recovered using the
    backup and recovery software.
        Long-term storage of preservation data is stored on magnetic tape.
    This data is ingested to a large disk cache where it goes through a
    workflow process and then is written to tape and a second copy is
    written to a remote site. The data is stored in a manner that makes
    recall and use of this data fairly simple.

              loc deg.CONSOLIDATION OF DATA CENTER ASSETS

        Question. According to a recently released GAO report entitled
    ``Opportunities to Reduce Potential Duplication in Government Programs,
    Save Tax Dollars, and Enhance Revenue (the Duplication Report)'', ``In
    recent years, as Federal agencies modernized their operations, put more
    of their services online, and increased their information security
    profiles, they have demanded more computing power and data storage
    resources. According to OMB, the number of Federal data centers grew
    from 432 in 1998 to more than 2,000 in 2010. These data centers often
    house similar types of equipment and provide similar processing and
    storage capabilities. These factors have led to concerns associated
    with the provision of redundant capabilities, the underutilization of
    resources, and the significant consumption of energy.''
        In February 2010, the administration launched the Federal Data
    Center Consolidation initiative and issued guidance for Federal CIO
    Council agencies that called for agencies to inventory their data
    center assets, develop consolidation plans throughout fiscal year 2010,
    and integrate those plans into agency fiscal year 2012 budget
    submissions.
        Is LOC working to reduce the size of its data center footprint?
        Answer. Unlike most agencies LOC is in the business of collecting
    and preserving data for future generations. The amount of LOC data
    grows each year as more and more collection and preservation data is
    acquired and stored in LOC systems. LOC is continually planning and
    reworking the layout of the Data Center to maintain or shrink the
    footprint.
        Wherever possible, LOC backs data up on tape rather than spinning
    disk, which uses more space and power. LOC also continually migrates
    data on tape to the latest (higher-density tape) technologies
    available. This allows LOC to grow collection and preservation data and
    maintain the same footprint in the data center.
        In an effort to reduce LOC data center footprint to allow for
    future data storage growth, LOC has recently implemented a
    virtualization infrastructure. The key benefit of this infrastructure,
    as it relates to the question, is that centralizing and reducing the
    number of physical servers will reduce the required amount of power,
    air conditioning, and physical space allocations. LOC is also in the
    process of implementing new network switches in the primary data center
    (Madison Building.). Implementing these newer technology switches will
    reduce the overall number of data center switches from 10 to 2. This
    will further reduce the network infrastructure footprint in the data
    center.
        Last, in an effort to optimize the data centers operational
    capabilities, LOC recently performed a study of all four LOC data
    centers. This study examined the current environment with regards to
    space allocation, power consumption and cooling capabilities. This
    information was used to project future space and environmental
    requirements based on current growth rates.
        Question. How does LOC protect and backup its electronic data?
        Answer. LOC protects its data by making multiple copies of the data
    in multiple locations. LOC uses different strategies according to the
    needs of the different categories of information:
          Business and Web Data.--Business and Web data are backed up
            through scheduled processes using industry standard backup and
            recovery software. Partial and full backups are taken and a
            second copy is written to a remote site.
          Long-term Storage of Preservation Data.--Currently, LOC takes in
            approximately 120 TB of preservation data a month. This will
            increase to approximately 200 TBs a month by the end of 2011.
            LOC has chosen to store this data on magnetic tape. Tape is a
            reliable, mature technology that has an error rate several
            magnitudes smaller than disk. It also has a very dense
            footprint and consumes very little power. This data is ingested
            to a large disk cache where it goes through a workflow process
            and then is written to tape and a second copy is written to a
            remote site. The data is stored in a manner that makes recall
            and use of this data fairly simple.
          Disk Replication and Disaster Recovery.--To support Continuity of
            Operations Planning and disaster recovery, mission-critical
            application data is replicated on disk at a remote site.
            Bringing these applications on line at the remote site is
            performed according to a priority set by LOC leadership. For
            instance, one of the higher-priority applications is the
            Legislative Information Service (LIS). LIS data is replicated
            remotely and in the event of a disaster, the application and
            its data can be brought online within a matter of hours. This
            data is also protected by complete backup as well.
        Question. What is LOC doing to take advantage of newer, more
    reliable, disk-based storage, and back-up technology which can drive
    down costs by reducing the overall data footprint at data centers?
        Answer. LOC has built into its future technology plans a technology
    refresh that migrates data from older technology to newer, denser, and
    power-saving technology. Over the past 5-7 years LOC has moved from
    using disks that can store 100 GB of data per disk drive to storing
    data on disks that can store 2 TB of data per disk drive. This is a 20-
    fold increase in density for nearly the same power requirements. LOC
    continues to look at new disk technologies and assess their
    applicability to LOC needs.
        Regarding back-up technology, LOC has adopted tape technology
    wherever possible. Disks are expensive and require more power and
    cooling than magnetic tapes. Magnetic tape technology provides a
    denser, less power-hungry, less error-prone, and less-expensive
    alternative to spinning disks. It has a known migration path and mature
    methods for assuring data integrity. LOC also has an audit program to
    assure quality of the media and hardware.

           loc deg.COST OF PROTECTING ELECTRONIC INFORMATION

        Question. What are the costs associated with protecting LOC's
    electronic information? Please submit a breakdown to the subcommittee.
        Answer. The initial cost associated with protecting LOC's
    electronic information is $13.976 million. In addition, there is an
    annually recurring cost of $5.48 million.

                        loc deg.CLOUD COMPUTING

        Question. The Federal CIO Council recently outlined a 25-point plan
    that puts in place a cloud-computing first strategy for all Federal IT.
    The plan boasts that cloud IT infrastructure creates the following
    benefits:
          Economical.--Cloud computing is a pay-as-you-go approach to IT,
            in which a low initial investment is required to begin, and
            additional investment is needed only as system use increases.
          Flexible.--IT departments that anticipate fluctuations in user
            demand no longer need to scramble for additional hardware and
            software. With cloud computing, they can add or subtract
            capacity quickly and easily.
          Fast.--Cloud computing eliminates long procurement and
            certification processes, while providing a near-limitless
            selection of services.
        Does LOC currently utilize, or plan to implement, a cloud-based IT
    infrastructure to operate and deliver programs to the public?
        Answer. LOC is currently implementing a virtualized environment to
    provide cloud-based IT infrastructure that, while currently planned for
    internal use only, can be adapted to provide public service. Many of
    LOC's public facing services currently run on an internal cloud-based
    infrastructure using shared CPUs, memory, and storage. LOC runs two
    internal hosting environments, the Application Hosting Environment
    (AHE) and the Financial Hosting Environment (FHE). The FHE hosts
    sensitive systems and data. Examples includes the Momentum Financial
    Management System, Health Services Organization (HSO) Medical
    Information Management System (MIMS--sometimes referred to as Medgate,
    Medgate is the actual software name). The AHE hosts most of LOC's other
    applications.

               loc deg.CONSIDERED PROGRAMS FOR THE CLOUD

        Question. Are there particular computer applications like email or
    other programs that LOC is considering moving to the cloud?
        Answer. LOC is evaluating moving the current New Visitor Experience
    (NVE) and MyLOC.gov from a Hosted Environment to a Cloud Environment.
    The NLS/BPH is evaluating placing their Electronic Books on a cloud
    system to enhance downloading electronic books to West Coast States.
        LOC is currently using the cloud to host the Global Legal
    Information Network (GLIN). Moreover, the OSI Digitization Projects
    System is a cloud application using an Application as a Service cloud
    offering from Appian.
        We will continue to monitor the Federal agency guidance being
    developed by the Office of Management and Budget, National Institutes
    of Standards and Technology, and General Services Administration prior
    to broadly implementing any cloud computing initiatives.

                    loc deg.SENSITIVE DATA CONTROLS

        Question. What current controls do you have in place to ensure
    sensitive data is not being released to the public?
        Answer. LOC's IT security policies are based on best practices,
    such as the NIST standards. Moreover, LOC uses best practices for
    technical controls using guides from Defense Information Systems Agency
    and the Center for Internet Security to secure servers, routers,
    switches, workstations, Web servers, and databases. LOC uses
    certification testing to ensure that security controls are in place
    before new systems go into production and continuous monitoring
    techniques to ensure that new vulnerabilities are addressed in a timely
    manner. As part of LOC's IT security process, information is evaluated
    to determine sensitivity and the security controls are based on the
    level of sensitivity. Systems with sensitive information are placed
    into a separate environment with more stringent security controls.
    Additionally, LOC is monitoring for unusual data traffic patterns that
    would indicate sensitive data being removed inappropriately from LOC.

                              SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS

        Senator Nelson. This hearing is now concluded.
        [Whereupon, at 3:21 p.m., Thursday, March 31, the hearing
    was concluded, and the subcommittee recessed, to reconvene
    subject to the call of the Chair.]

             LEGISLATIVE BRANCH APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

                                  ----------

                             THURSDAY, MAY 12, 2011

                                           U.S. Senate,
               Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The subcommittee met at 1:30 p.m., in room SD-138, Dirksen
    Senate Office Building, Hon. Ben Nelson (chairman) presiding.
        Present: Senators Nelson and Hoeven.

                                  U.S. SENATE

                            Office of the Secretary

    STATEMENT OF HON. NANCY ERICKSON, SECRETARY OF THE
                SENATE
    ACCOMPANIED BY:
            CHRIS DOBY, FINANCIAL CLERK
            SHEILA DWYER, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

                    OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BEN NELSON

        Senator Nelson. The subcommittee will come to order. Good
    afternoon, everyone, and welcome.
        My colleague Senator Hoeven has an Energy Task Force
    meeting at this point in time. We have a 2 o'clock vote. So,
    what will happen is, I will go until 2 o'clock, then we'll
    recess for however long it takes me to go and vote, and then
    hopefully the Senator will be able to join us after.
        We meet, this afternoon, to take testimony on the fiscal
    year 2012 budget request for the Secretary of the Senate,
    Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA), and the U.S. Capitol Police
    (USCP). This is our fourth and final hearing for fiscal year
    2012.
        I want to welcome our three witnesses today: Nancy
    Erickson, Secretary of the Senate; Terrance W. Gainer, Senate
    Sergeant at Arms; and Phillip D. Morse, Sr., Chief of the
    Capitol Police.
        I want to start, today, by acknowledging the dedication and
    hard work of all of your staff. The services provided by many
    of your employees are rarely seen, but are highly relied upon
    for the day-to-day operation of the Senate. I know that the
    Senate is a very demanding place to work often requiring long
    hours, under extraordinary pressure. And we sometimes are
    accused of being high maintenance. But, I want you to know that
    we sincerely appreciate everyone's work, and we're grateful to
    all of the men and women who keep the Senate running safely and
    smoothly every day.
        I'd like to reiterate a few points that were made during
    our first three hearings this year. My goal, going into fiscal
    year 2011, was to hold the legislative branch flat; and I'm
    proud to say that, despite the challenges we face, we've
    surpassed that goal by cutting just more than $100 million
    below the fiscal year 2010 enacted level. Furthermore, we have
    accomplished this without requiring the agencies that assist us
    in our day-to-day operations to implement, ``reductions in
    force''. And, as you may have heard, in fiscal year 2012 I plan
    to cut even further below the fiscal year 2011 number so that
    we can lead by example on this subcommittee, when it comes to
    getting our fiscal house in order. Putting forth a reasonable,
    responsible budget for the legislative branch in fiscal year
    2012 is my number one priority.
        Ms. Erickson, we are pleased to have you here this
    afternoon. I look forward to hearing your testimony. For fiscal
    year 2012, your office is requesting a total of $32 million,
    which is the same level of funding recently provided to your
    office in the fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution. I realize
    this level of funding is a reflection of the transfer of a $4.2
    million Senate Information System (SIS), last year, to your
    office from the SAA. I look forward to hearing more about the
    specifics of your budget request and receiving an update on the
    progress of the new Senate payroll system.
        Mr. Gainer, first, I want to commend you for your smart
    thinking, earlier this year, when you hired Nancy Olkewicz.
        We've all benefited from her steadfast dedication and
    loyalty to the United States Senate. And we continue to get
    that now, as she works with the Appropriations Committee, and
    this subcommittee, in particular. I'm certain you've already
    benefited tenfold from the detailed knowledge and understanding
    of this institution that she has brought with her to the new
    job.
        We're still recovering from our loss of her here on this
    subcommittee, but Lila Helms is doing an outstanding job. It
    happens to be her birthday today. The SAA request for 2012
    totals $219 million, an increase of $214,000 more than the
    recently enacted fiscal year 2011 level. I look forward to
    hearing an update on the relocation of your printing, graphics,
    and direct mail shop, and any security-related updates that you
    may have to share with us.
        Finally, Chief Morse, your fiscal year 2012 request totals
    $387.6 million, which is an increase of $47 million, or 14
    percent, more than the recently enacted fiscal year 2011 level.
    I also want to note that, when it came to setting the fiscal
    year 2011 levels, every agency, with the exception of the USCP
    and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), took a cut in
    funding. You received a $12 million increase more than the 2010
    funding level. Granted, much of this increase was to annualize
    the funding correction, due to a salary miscalculation at the
    department in fiscal year 2010. We will need to look carefully
    at this request, given just how tight budgets are going to be
    in fiscal year 2012. In particular, we'll be reviewing the
    seven or so new initiatives you've identified, to see where we
    might be able to realize some savings. I also look forward to
    receiving an update on the radio modernization project from
    you, as well.
        Now I'd like to begin with the witnesses. I'd appreciate if
    you might be able to keep your opening remarks to about 5
    minutes, and submit the rest of your statements for the record.
        Ms. Erickson, we'll start with you, and then we'll hear
    from Mr. Gainer, and then Chief Morse.

                      SUMMARY STATEMENT OF NANCY ERICKSON

        Ms. Erickson. Chairman Nelson, I appreciate this
    opportunity to provide testimony on behalf of the Office of the
    Secretary and its employees. I'm joined today by Sheila Dwyer,
    the Assistant Secretary, and Chris Doby, our Financial Clerk,
    who provides the steady hand in overseeing the Senate
    Disbursing Office.
        Since 1789, the Secretary of the Senate has been tasked
    with legislative, financial, and administrative
    responsibilities to support the Senate. I was reminded of our
    office's historic role in supporting the Senate during new
    Member orientation, when I had the opportunity to accompany our
    new Senators and their spouses to the National Archives
    legislative vault, where some of the Senate's earliest records
    are stored. We looked, in awe, at the very first Senate
    journal, and noted the Secretary's constitutional
    responsibility in documenting the Senate's very first day of
    business on March 4, 1789. Admiring the first Secretary of the
    Senate's beautiful handwriting, I must say that I'm grateful
    that this constitutional responsibility is carried out by our
    Senate Journal Clerks who can rely on laptops to compile the
    Senate Journal.
        This year, I'm requesting $31,990,000 to support the
    operations of the Office of the Secretary. This includes
    $25,790,000 for salaries, $2 million for operations, and $4.2
    million for the SIS program.
        I'd like to highlight three points. First, the budget
    request includes no increase for salaries or operations.
    Second, the operating budget for the administration of the SIS
    program, operations of which were assumed by this office last
    year, is also unchanged. Finally, I would be remiss if I did
    not point out that our 2012 budget request for operations is
    the same as our 2008 appropriation.
        Getting to this number has required careful assessments of
    not only how we use our financial resources, but also how we
    efficiently and effectively deploy our human resources. I'm
    very proud of our 26 department managers and our accounts
    administrator, who have been careful stewards of our resources,
    and who have committed themselves to rethinking how we work,
    with the goal of continuing superior service to the Senate.
        Compared to the budgets of our legislative branch partners,
    the Office of the Secretary's budget is small. However, we're
    fortunate that we're structured in a way that allows our office
    to operate efficiently. One example of this is our relationship
    with the Senate SAA in the area of information technology (IT).
    We rely on the SAA for our IT support requirements, ranging
    from the technical support for our payroll and financial
    systems to our enormous databases in the Office of Public
    Records, which includes Senate campaign reports, financial
    disclosure filings, travel reports, as well as registrant and
    lobbyist filings under the Lobbying Disclosure Act, as amended.
    We appreciate this relationship and underscore the importance
    of these systems in carrying out our congressional mandates.
        As you know, the SIS program was established by regulation
    by the Rules Committee in 1987 to provide all Senate offices
    access to online research services. During the past year, we
    focused our efforts on cost containment and gathered feedback
    from Senate staff on their research needs and the tools they
    use. On the cost-containment front, as a result of contract
    negotiations led by the Senate Librarian and procurement staff,
    SIS program costs in 2011 were held to 2010 levels. The
    successful negotiations, however, do not guarantee that there
    will not be future price increases and, potentially, hard
    decisions about what SIS services are added.
        Based on feedback from Senate staff, it's clear that online
    research plays a critical role in the daily work of the Senate.
    These resources are focused on real-time news, legislative,
    legal, and policy resources that are valued by staff. The
    online research industry is rapidly changing. And as we move
    forward in managing the SIS program, we will be vigilant in
    pursuing opportunities to maximize the Senate's investment
    while being mindful of costs.
        With respect to our financial responsibilities, the
    Disbursing Office, in tandem with SAA technical support,
    researched and procured a vendor to implement a new payroll
    system that met the Senate's unique requirements. We have a
    rigorous schedule to ensure a smooth implementation, including
    parallel testing with our current system before it's launched
    early next year. The next phase of the payroll project will
    include self-service options for employees.
        [The information follows:]

        As I mentioned in my testimony, the new payroll system will be
    implemented in three phases. Phase I will replace existing
    functionality. Phase II of the project will involve the implementation
    of self-service functions for employees, such as change-of-address
    requests, revising withholding amounts, and, eventually, making changes
    in benefit selections, and will allow for electronic payroll
    information notices to be sent, replacing the paper notices that
    employees now receive. Phase III, which is not yet funded, is the
    rollout of the new personnel system for Senate offices. When all three
    phases are implemented, we envision that offices will be able, pending
    approval of a digital signature format by the Committee on Rules and
    Administration, to submit payroll changes electronically.

        Ms. Erickson. As we've worked on the implementation of this
    enormous and complex payroll project, I'm reminded of a simpler
    time, when Senators and staff were paid with crisp $20 bills at
    the front counter of the Disbursing Office, a Senate practice
    until 1972.
        Our Disbursing Office and Senate Webmaster, in coordination
    with the Government Printing Office, are implementing a
    statutory requirement that the report of the Secretary be
    publicly posted on the Internet. The first posting of this
    report will occur at the end of November 2011 and will be
    available from a link on senate.gov in a PDF format.
        We will continue work on the paperless voucher initiative
    to reduce paper, streamline the voucher process, and for
    continuity-of-operation purposes. In the meantime, I'm pleased
    to report that paper vouchers were processed 10 percent faster
    than the previous year, which is good news for your office
    managers and your State vendors.
        Following past practice, I asked the Government
    Accountability Office (GAO) to audit the accounting books and
    inventory processes in our stationery room and gift shop. And
    I'm pleased to report that we received a positive audit with
    valuable feedback. In fact, the GAO singled out our inventory
    processes and warehouse operations as a model for other similar
    Government entities.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        I felt fortunate to be on the Senate floor to hear many of
    the farewell remarks of departing Senators this past December.
    And I was struck by a recurring theme in their recognition of
    the staff who work behind the scenes to support the Senate. Our
    staff, who have legislative, financial, and administrative
    responsibilities, take great pride in their historic role in
    serving the United States Senate, and we appreciate your
    subcommittee's recognition and support of their important work.
        Thank you.
        [The statement follows:]

                      Prepared Statement of Nancy Erickson

        Mr. Chairman, Senator Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee,
    thank you for your invitation to present testimony in support of the
    budget request of the Office of the Secretary of the Senate for fiscal
    year 2012.
        It is a pleasure to have this opportunity to draw attention to the
    accomplishments of the dedicated and outstanding employees of the
    Office of the Secretary. The annual reports which follow provide
    detailed information about the work of each department of the office,
    their recent achievements, and their plans for the upcoming fiscal
    year.
        My statement includes:
      --presenting the fiscal year 2012 budget request;
      --implementing mandated systems--Financial Management Information
            System (FMIS) and Legislative Information System (LIS);
      --Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP); and
      --maintaining and improving current and historic legislative,
            financial, and administrative services.

        sos deg.PRESENTING THE FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET REQUEST

        I am requesting a total fiscal year 2012 budget of $31,990,000. The
    request includes $25,790,000 in salary costs and $6.2 million for the
    operating budget of the Office of the Secretary. This request has been
    kept at fiscal year 2011 levels and represents a flat budget. No
    increase has been requested for salaries or operating expenses. In
    addition, the operating budget for the administration of Senate
    Information Services (SIS) program that was assumed by this office last
    year has not been increased.
        My total budget request for fiscal year 2012 is the same as last
    year. The balance of our request is consistent with the amounts
    requested and received in 2011 through the legislative branch
    appropriations process.

                                     OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY APPORTIONMENT SCHEDULE
                                                [In thousands of dollars]
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                          Amount          Budget
                                                                         available       estimates
                                  Items                                 fiscal year     fiscal year     Difference
                                                                      2011 (pending)       2012
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Departmental operating budget:
        Executive office............................................             550             550  ..............
        Administrative services.....................................           5,590           5,590  ..............
        Legislative services........................................              60              60  ..............
                                                                     -----------------------------------------------
          Total operating budget....................................           6,200           6,200  ..............
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                 sos deg.IMPLEMENTING MANDATED SYSTEMS

        Two systems critical to our operation are mandated by law, and I
    would like to spend a few moments on each to highlight recent progress,
    and to thank the subcommittee for your ongoing support of both.
    FMIS
        The FMIS is used by approximately 140 Senate offices. Consistent
    with our strategic plan, the Disbursing Office continues to modernize
    processes and applications to meet the continued demand by Senate
    offices for efficiency, accountability, and ease of use. Our goals are
    to move to an integrated, paperless voucher system, improve the WebFMIS
    system, and make payroll and accounting system improvements.
        During fiscal year 2010 and the beginning of fiscal year 2011,
    specific progress made on the FMIS project included:
      --WebFMIS was upgraded three times this year: in January 2010, August
            2010, and November 2010. This system is used by administrative
            managers, committee clerks, staff in the Sergeant at Arms
            Office (SAA), and the Secretary's office to create vouchers and
            manage their office funds, by the Disbursing Office to review
            vouchers and by the Committee on Rules and Administration to
            sanction vouchers. Additionally, it is used by staff who incur
            official expenses, primarily staff who travel, to prepare their
            Expense Summary Reports (ESRs). The releases provided both
            technical and functional changes.
        --FMIS 2010-1 was implemented in January 2010. This release
                included a small number of enhancements for WebFMIS users
                including an automated password reset feature, a warning to
                the ESRs user when their document violates the 60-day
                election rule limitations, adding graphs to the WebFMIS
                summary reports, and implementing a pilot of electronic
                invoice (EI) functionality, which allows a user to easily
                create credit card reimbursement vouchers based on invoices
                received electronically from the Senate's credit card
                vendor. A pilot of the EI functionality began in January
                and was offered to all offices in June 2010. By the end of
                2010, 33 offices were using the EI functionality.
        --FMIS 2010-2 was implemented in August 2010. This release included
                a small number of enhancements for ESR users, but was
                focused on implementing new functionality for the SAA
                accounts payable (A/P) process. Processes were simplified
                by automated retrieval of data from existing purchase
                orders. An application, WebPICS provides pop-up windows
                where users enter the required data which the system uses
                to retrieve information from the purchase order. The users
                verifies retrieved data and adds information necessary to
                complete the process to create receiving reports, invoices,
                and vouchers for payments against purchase orders.
        --FMIS 2011-1 was implemented in November 2010 and included two new
                fields (invoice date and invoice receipt date) on the
                WebFMIS document create page and the document search
                criteria page for all users; it gives SAA users the ability
                to search by project code and job code using the document
                search criteria page and users using the EI functionality,
                the ability to search by traveler's name. A new version of
                the ESR, ``Line Item Entry'' was also introduced to a pilot
                group. This enables users to select from 1 of 3 travel
                types of the ESR; single trip, multiple trips, or
                interdepartmental travel, requiring different types of
                information based on the type selected. It is anticipated
                that this new version of the ESR will reduce rekeying by
                staff and reduce the corrections to itineraries made by
                administrative mangers, chief clerks and Disbursing's A/P
                staff. A pilot of 10 offices and committees began in
                November 2010. This version was given to all new Senators
                of the 112th Congress.
      --The computing infrastructure for FMIS is provided by the SAA. Each
            year the SAA staff upgrades the infrastructure hardware and
            software. During 2010 the SAA implemented two major upgrades to
            the FMIS infrastructure. These included upgrading the database,
            DB2, to version 9 in a two-step process, and upgrading the
            mainframe operating system to version 1, release 11.
      --During 2008 Disbursing implemented a prototype imaging system in
            which paper vouchers and supporting documentation were imaged
            by Disbursing staff and routed electronically. The hands-on
            experience of this prototype was especially useful in refining
            system requirements. In 2009 and completed in 2010, the
            software for the image database and image viewer was selected,
            and imaging and electronic signature requirements were
            finalized. This information was coordinated with a separate SAA
            smart card ID project to be utilized for electronic signatures.
            In October 2010, a task order for adding document imaging and
            electronic signatures to WebFMIS was signed. This task order
            outlines work to be completed in 2010 through the spring of
            2013.
      --Finalized the selection of the PeopleSoft payroll system integrator
            through a competitive bid process, signed the contract and
            started with the fit gap sessions for the implementation of the
            new system.
      --Implemented State tax remittances via direct deposit for six
            additional States and updated our access to the Federal Reserve
            Bank (FRB) due to a change in FRB-supplied equipment.
        During the remainder of fiscal year 2011 the following FMIS
    activities are anticipated:
      --Implementing WebPICS release for phase III which will focus on SAA
            purchase order creation and approval;
      --Coordinating with SAA the timeframes for the implementation of the
            smart card ID project for electronic signatures;
      --Implementing on-line distribution of monthly ledger reports using
            Reveal via WebFMIS;
      --Implementing Automated Clearing House (ACH) payment for the 16
            remaining State taxes jurisdictions which require a programming
            change;
      --Participating in the yearly disaster recovery test; and
      --Implementing FMIS release 2011-2 during the spring 2011. This
            release is expected to allow the SAA A/P group and the
            Secretary's account administrator the ability to image and
            attach supporting documentation to the documents created via
            WebPICS or WebFMIS.
        During fiscal year 2012 the following FMIS activities are
    anticipated:
      --Continuing the implementation of online financial reports;
      --Implementing FMIS 2011-3, which includes the deployment of an
            imaging and electronic signatures pilot by Senate office.
      --Implementing FMIS 2012-1 to include additional imaging features
            from the pilot group requirements to support extended pilot
            office participation.
      --Implementing FMIS 2012-2 to provide capacity and stability
            enhancements to support rollout to all offices and committees,
            as well as enhancements to the pilot functionality based on
            feedback gained through user group meeting and training
            sessions;
      --Continuing with the new payroll system implementation, conversion
            and testing; and
      --Reviewing existing systems and developing a long-term modification
            and replacement plan for key financial systems.
        A more detailed report on FMIS is included in the departmental
    report of the Disbursing Office.

                      sos deg.LEGISLATIVE OFFICES

        The Legislative Department provides support essential to Senators
    in carrying out their daily chamber activities as well as the
    constitutional responsibilities of the Senate. The Legislative Clerk
    sits at the Secretary's desk in the Senate Chamber and reads aloud
    bills, amendments, the Senate Journal, Presidential messages, and other
    such materials when so directed by the Presiding Officer of the Senate.
    The Legislative Clerk calls the roll of Members to establish the
    presence of a quorum and to record and tally all yea and nay votes. The
    office staff prepares the Senate Calendar of Business, published each
    day that the Senate is in session, and prepares additional publications
    relating to Senate class membership and committee and subcommittee
    assignments. The Legislative Clerk maintains the official copy of all
    measures pending before the Senate and must incorporate into those
    measures any amendments that are agreed to. This office retains custody
    of official messages received from the House of Representatives and
    conference reports awaiting action by the Senate. The office staff is
    responsible for verifying the accuracy of information entered into the
    LIS system by the various offices of the Secretary.
        Additionally, the Legislative Clerk acts as supervisor for the
    Legislative Department, responsible for overall coordination,
    supervision, scheduling, and cross-training. The department consists of
    eight offices:
      --the Bill Clerk;
      --Captioning Services;
      --Daily Digest;
      --Enrolling Clerk;
      --Executive Clerk;
      --Journal Clerk;
      --Legislative Clerk; and
      --the Official Reporters of Debates.

    Summary of Activity
        The Senate completed its legislative business and adjourned sine
    die on December 22, 2010. During 2010, the Senate was in session 158
    days and conducted 299 roll call votes and eight live quorum calls.
    There were 388 measures reported from committees and six special
    reports submitted to the Senate. There were 569 total measures passed
    or agreed to. In addition, there were 4,924 amendments submitted to the
    desk.

    Cross-training and COOP Planning
        Recognizing the importance of planning for the continuity of Senate
    business, under both normal and possibly extenuating circumstances,
    cross-training continues to be strongly emphasized among the
    Secretary's legislative staff. To ensure additional staff are trained
    to perform the basic floor responsibilities of the Legislative Clerk,
    as well as the various other floor-related responsibilities of the
    Secretary, approximately one-half of the legislative staff are
    currently involved or have recently been involved in cross-training.
        Each office and staff within the Legislative Department
    participated in numerous ongoing COOP discussions and exercises
    throughout the past year. These discussions and exercises are a joint
    effort involving the Office of the Secretary, the U.S. Capitol Police
    (USCP), and the SAA.

    Succession Planning
        The average number of years of Senate service among the Secretary's
    Legislative Department supervisors is 19 years. It is critical that the
    Secretary's Legislative Department attract and keep talented employees,
    especially the second tier of employees just behind the current
    supervisors because of the unique nature of the Senate as a legislative
    institution. The arcane practices and voluminous precedents of the
    Senate make institutional experience and knowledge extremely valuable.

                          sos deg.BILL CLERK

        The Office of the Bill Clerk collects and records data on the
    legislative activity of the Senate, which becomes the historical record
    of official Senate business. The Bill Clerk's staff keeps this
    information in its handwritten files and ledgers and also enters it
    into the Senate's automated retrieval system so that it is available to
    all House and Senate offices through the LIS. The Bill Clerk records
    actions of the Senate with regard to bills, resolutions, reports,
    amendments, cosponsors, Public Law numbers, and recorded votes. The
    Bill Clerk is responsible for preparing for print all measures
    introduced, received, submitted, and reported in the Senate. The Bill
    Clerk also assigns numbers to all Senate bills and resolutions. All the
    information received in this office comes directly from the Senate
    Floor in written form within moments of the action involved, so the
    Bill Clerk's office is generally regarded as the most timely and most
    accurate source of legislative information.
    Assistance From the Government Printing Office (GPO)
        The Bill Clerk's staff maintains an exceptionally good working
    relationship with the GPO and seeks to provide the best service
    possible to meet the needs of the Senate. The GPO continues to respond
    in a timely manner to the Secretary's request, through the Bill Clerk's
    office, for the printing of bills and reports, including the expedited
    printing of priority matters for the Senate Chamber.
    Legislative Activity
        The Bill Clerk's staff processed 1,099 fewer legislative items than
    in the previous Congress for an overall decrease of slightly less than
    9 percent. For comparative purposes, below is a summary of the second
    sessions of the 110th and 111th Congresses, and then between the
    combined sessions of each Congress.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                           110th           111th
                                                                       Congress, 2nd   Congress, 2nd    Percentage
                                                                          Session         Session         change
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senate bills....................................................           1,217           1,139           -6.41
    Senate Joint Resolutions........................................              19              17          -10.53
    Senate Concurrent Resolutions...................................              43              30          -30.23
    Senate Resolutions..............................................             311             320           +2.89
    Amendments submitted............................................           1,812           1,626          -10.26
    House bills.....................................................             427             333          -22.01
    House Joint Resolutions.........................................               4               6          +50.00
    House Concurrent Resolutions....................................              93              51          -45.16
    Measures reported...............................................             452             388          -14.16
    Written reports.................................................             274             275          +41.61
                                                                     -----------------------------------------------
          Total legislation.........................................           4,652           4,298           -7.61
                                                                     ===============================================
    Roll call votes.................................................             215             299          +39.07
    House messages \1\..............................................             283             332          +17.31
    Cosponsor requests..............................................           7,306           4,947          -32.29
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ This number reflects how many messages from the House are typed up by the Bill Clerks for inclusion in the
      Congressional Record. It excludes additional activity on these bills.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                        Percentage
                                                                      110th Congress  111th Congress      change
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senate bills....................................................           3,741           4,059            +8.5
    Senate Joint Resolutions........................................              46              42            -8.7
    Senate Concurrent Resolutions...................................             107              78           -27.1
    Senate Resolutions..............................................             729             707           -3.02
    Amendments Submitted............................................           5,704           4,924          -13.67
    House bills.....................................................             940             715          -23.94
    House Joint Resolutions.........................................              13              16          +23.08
    House Concurrent Resolutions....................................             186             118          -36.56
    Measures reported...............................................             880             388          -55.91
                                                                     -----------------------------------------------
          Total legislation.........................................          12,346          11,047          -10.52
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                      sos deg.CAPTIONING SERVICES

        The Office of Captioning Services provides realtime captioning of
    Senate Floor proceedings for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and
    unofficial electronic transcripts of Senate Floor proceedings to Senate
    offices on Webster, the Senate Intranet.
    General Overview
        Captioning Services strives to provide the highest-quality closed
    captions. For the 17th year in a row, the Office has achieved an
    overall accuracy average above 99 percent. Overall caption quality is
    monitored through daily translation data reports, monitoring of
    captions in real-time, and review of caption files on Webster. In an
    effort to decrease paper consumption and printing costs, accuracy
    reviews and reports will be completed and archived in electronic form
    for the upcoming year.
        The real-time searchable closed caption log, available to Senate
    offices on Webster, continues to be an invaluable tool for all of the
    Senate community. Legislative floor staff, in particular, continue to
    depend upon its availability, reliability and contents to help them in
    the performance of their duties. Additionally, the Senate Recording
    Studio's complementary video component, Video Vault, adds searchable
    video to the audio and text and has proven to be a valuable new tool
    for Senate offices to utilize.
    COOP Planning
        COOP and preparation continue to be a top priority to ensure that
    the office and staff are prepared and confident about the ability to
    relocate and successfully function from a remote location in the event
    of an emergency. Continual updates and review of the COOP plan and
    discussion with staff throughout the year prepare individuals to have
    confidence if called upon to execute the plan. The office also
    participates with the Recording Studio in an off-site location exercise
    of the COOP at least once a year.

                         sos deg.DAILY DIGEST

        The Office of the Senate Daily Digest is pleased to transmit its
    annual report on Senate activities during the second session of the
    111th Congress. First, a brief summary of a compilation of Senate
    statistics:
    Chamber Activity
        The Senate was in session a total of 158 days, for a total of 1,074
    hours and 40 minutes. There were eight live quorum calls and 299 roll
    call votes. (See attachment for 2009 Year Comparison of Senate
    Legislative Activity).
    Committee Activity
        Senate committees held a total of 827 meetings during the second
    session, as contrasted with 1,138 meetings during the first session of
    the 111th Congress.
        All hearings and business meetings (including joint meetings and
    conferences) are scheduled through the Office of the Senate Daily
    Digest and are published in the Congressional Record, on its Web site
    on Senate.gov, and entered in the LIS, the Web-based applications
    system. Meeting outcomes are also published by the Daily Digest in the
    Congressional Record each day and continuously updated on the Web site.
    Computer Activities
        The Digest staff continues to work closely with Senate computer
    staff to refine the LIS/document management system (DMS), including
    further refinements to the Senate Committee Scheduling application
    which will improve the data entry process.
        The Digest office continues to electronically transmit the complete
    publication at the end of each day to the GPO.
    GPO
        The Daily Digest staff work closely with the GPO on printing issues
    and are pleased to report that occurrences of editing corrections or
    transcript errors are infrequent.

                                                                          20-YEAR COMPARISON OF SENATE LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY \1\
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              1991          1992          1993          1994          1995          1996          1997          1998          1999          2000
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senate convened.....................................           1/3           1/3           1/5          1/25           1/4           1/3           1/3          1/27           1/6          1/24
    Senate adjourned....................................        1/3/92          10/9         11/26         12/01        1/3/96          10/4         11/13         10/21         11/19         12/15
    Days in session.....................................           158           129           153           138           211           132           153           143           162           141
    Hours in session....................................      1,20044"      1,09109"      1,26941"      1,24333"      1,83910"      1,03645"      1,09307"      1,09505"      1,18357"      1,01751"
    Average hours per day...............................           7.6           8.5           8.3           9.0           8.7           7.8           7.1           7.7           7.3           7.2
    Total measures passed...............................           626           651           473           465           346           476           386           506           549           696
    Roll call votes.....................................           280           270           395           329           613           306           298           314           374           298
    Quorum calls........................................             3             5             2             6             3             2             6             4             7             6
    Public Laws.........................................           243           347           210           255            88           245           153           241           170           410
    Treaties ratified...................................            15            32            20             8            10            28            15            53            13            39
    Nominations confirmed...............................        45,369        30,619        38,676        37,446        40,535        33,176        25,576        20,302        22,468        22,512
    Average voting attendance...........................         97.16          95.4          97.6         97.02         98.07         98.22         98.68         97.47         98.02         96.99
    Sessions convened before 12 noon....................           126           112           128           120           184           113           115           109           118           107
    Sessions convened at 12 noon........................             9             6             6             9             2            15            12            31            17            25
    Sessions convened after 12 noon.....................            23            10            15            17            12             7             7             2            19            24
    Sessions continued after 6 p.m......................           102            91           100           100           158            88            96            93           113            94
    Sessions continued after 12 midnight................             4             9             7             3             1  ............  ............  ............  ............             2
    Saturday sessions...................................             2             2             2             3             5             1             1             1             3             1
    Sunday sessions.....................................  ............  ............  ............  ............             3  ............             1  ............  ............             1
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                                      20-YEAR COMPARISON OF SENATE LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY--Continued
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              2001          2002          2003          2004          2005          2006          2007          2008          2009          2010
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senate convened.....................................           1/3          1/23           1/7          1/20           1/4           1/3           1/4           1/3           1/6           1/5
    Senate adjourned....................................         12/20         11/20          12/9          12/8         12/22          12/9         12/31           1/2         12/24         12/22
    Days in session.....................................           173           149           167           133           159           138           189           184           191           158
    Hours in session....................................      1,23615"      1,04323"      1,45405"      1,03131"      1,22226"      1,02748"      1,37554"        98831"      1,42039"      1,07440"
    Average hours per day...............................           7.1           7.0           8.7           7.7           7.7           7.4           7.2          5.37          7.44           6.8
    Total measures passed...............................           425           523           590           663           624           635           621           589           478           569
    Roll call votes.....................................           380           253           459           216           366           279           442           215           397           299
    Quorum calls........................................             3             2             3             1             3             1             6             3             3             8
    Public Laws.........................................           136           241           198           300           169           313           180           280           125           258
    Treaties ratified...................................             3            17            11            15             6            14             8            30             1             6
    Nominations confirmed...............................        25,091        23,633        21,580        24,420        25,942        29,603        22,892        21,785        23,051        23,327
    Average voting attendance...........................         98.29         96.36         96.07         95.54         97.41         97.13         94.99         94.36         96.99         95.88
    Sessions convened before 12 noon....................           140           119           133           104           121           110           156           147           148           116
    Sessions convened at 12 noon........................            10            12             4             9             1             4             4             4             2             6
    Sessions convened after 12 noon.....................            21            23            23            21            36            24            32            33            41            36
    Sessions continued after 6 p.m......................           108           103           134           129           120           129           144           110           152           116
    Sessions continued after 12 midnight................             3             8             2             3             3             4             4             2             2             1
    Saturday sessions...................................             3  ............             1             2             2             2             1             3             5             2
    Sunday sessions.....................................  ............  ............             1             1             2  ............             1             1             4             1
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Prepared by the Senate Daily Digest--Office of the Secretary.

                        sos deg.ENROLLING CLERK

        The Enrolling Clerk prepares, proofreads, corrects, and prints all
    legislation passed by the Senate prior to its transmittal to the
    Secretary of the Senate, House of Representatives, the White House, the
    National Archives, and the United States Claims Court.
        During the second session of the 111th Congress the Enrolling
    Clerk's office prepared the enrollment of 78 Senate bills (transmitted
    to the President); 4 Senate enrolled joint resolutions (transmitted to
    the President); 7 Senate concurrent resolutions (transmitted to the
    National Archives); and 40 Senate appointments (transmitted to the
    House of Representatives). In addition, approximately 177 House of
    Representatives bills; 30 House Concurrent Resolutions; 5 House Joint
    Resolutions; and 2 conference reports, were either amended, passed, or
    acted on by the Senate requiring the Enrolling Clerk's office staff to
    work hundreds of amendments in a tightly managed schedule. In all there
    were 61 messages delivered to the Clerk's office and 84 to the House
    Chamber by the Enrolling Clerk's office relative to Senate action and
    passage of legislation. The office also handled the appropriate
    delivery to the House Clerk's office of approximately 248 House
    enrolled bills and 11 House joint resolutions (1 vetoed) after they had
    been signed by the President pro tempore.
        During the second session, the Enrolling Clerk's office was also
    involved in preparing and proofreading documents and taking messages to
    the House of Representatives relative to the impeachment of Judge
    Gabriel Thomas Porteous, Jr. of Louisiana. The Enrolling Clerk also
    assisted the Executive Clerk in putting together the official copy of
    the START Treaty agreement and helped organize Treaty amendments, in
    addition to proofreading the document. The office performance was
    successful, and all deadlines were met.
        A total of 569 pieces of legislation were passed or agreed to
    during the second session of the 111th Congress. Many other Senate
    bills were placed on the calendar, all of which were processed in the
    Enrolling Clerk's office including approximately 99 engrossed Senate
    bills, 4 joint resolutions, 15 concurrent resolutions, and 244 Senate
    resolutions. The office is also responsible for keeping the original
    official copies of bills, resolutions, and appointments from the Senate
    Floor through the end of each Congress. At the end of the second
    session, the Enrolling Clerk's office places all official papers in
    archive boxes where they are sent to the Senate Archivist for storage
    at the National Archives.
        The Senate Enrolling Clerk's is also responsible for transmitting
    to the GPO electronically, for overnight printing, copies of the
    original files of engrossed and enrolled legislation proofread and
    formatted accordingly in our office.
    COOP
        In the second quarter 2010 the Enrolling Clerk attended two COOP
    exercises at the GPO to test a number of printers for the COOP fly-away
    kit designated to be available for the enrolling clerks in the event of
    a COOP situation. In addition to testing the printers, the exercise
    encompassed the important details of our operations necessary for the
    engrossment and enrollment of legislation involving the use of printers
    and specific paper stock supplied by the GPO.
    Cost Savings
        The Enrolling Clerk has reduced printing requests by one-third over
    the past few years in addition to reducing its distribution of bills
    from the GPO by one-half.

                        sos deg.EXECUTIVE CLERK

        The Executive Clerk prepares an accurate record of actions taken by
    the Senate during executive sessions (proceedings on nominations and
    treaties) which is published as the Journal of the Executive
    Proceedings of the Senate at the end of each session of Congress. The
    Executive Clerk also prepares daily the Executive Calendar as well as
    all nomination and treaty resolutions for transmittal to the President.
    Additionally, the Executive Clerk's office processes all executive
    communications, Presidential messages, and petitions and memorials.
    Nominations
        During the second session of the 111th Congress, there were 1,077
    nomination messages sent to the Senate by the President, transmitting
    21,836 nominations to positions requiring Senate confirmation and 21
    messages withdrawing nominations sent to the Senate during the second
    session of the 111th Congress. Of the total nominations transmitted,
    435 were for civilian positions other than lists in the Foreign
    Service, Coast Guard, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
    and Public Health Service. In addition, there were 2,240 nominees in
    the ``civilian list@'' categories named above. Military nominations
    received this session totaled 19,161 (6,600 Air Force; 7,486 Army;
    4,448 Navy; and 627 Marine Corps). The Senate confirmed 23,327
    nominations this session. Pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 6 of
    Senate Rule XXXI, 366 nominations were returned to the President during
    the second session of the 111th Congress.
    Treaties
        There were four treaties transmitted to the Senate by the President
    during the second session of the 111th Congress for its advice and
    consent to ratification, which were ordered printed as treaty documents
    for the use of the Senate (Treaty Doc. 111-5 through 111-8).
        The Senate gave its advice and consent to six treaties with various
    amendments, conditions, declarations, understandings, and provisos to
    the resolutions of advice and consent to ratification.
    Executive Reports and Roll Call Votes
        There were six executive reports relating to treaties ordered
    printed for the use of the Senate during the second session of the
    111th Congress (Executive Report 111-2 through 111-7). The Senate
    conducted 50 roll call votes in executive session, all on or in
    relation to nominations and treaties.
    Executive Communications
        For the second session of the 111th Congress, 4,468 executive
    communications, 62 petitions and memorials, and 29 Presidential
    messages were received and processed.
    Environmental Impact
        In an effort to save money and eliminate unnecessary paper, the
    Executive Clerk reduced the copies of nominations printed for the
    committees by 95 percent during the 111th Congress, as all committees
    except one allow the paperwork to be transmitted by email decreasing
    the need for duplicate paper copies.

                         sos deg.JOURNAL CLERK

        The Journal Clerk takes notes of the daily legislative proceedings
    of the Senate in the ``Minute Book'' and prepares a history of bills
    and resolutions for the printed Journal of the Proceedings of the
    Senate, or Senate Journal, as required by article I, section V of the
    Constitution. The content of the Senate Journal is governed by Senate
    Rule IV, and is approved by the Senate on a daily basis. The Senate
    Journal is published each calendar year.
        The Journal staff take 90-minute turns at the Rostrum in the Senate
    Chamber, noting the following by hand for inclusion in the Minute Book:
      --all orders (entered into by the Senate through unanimous consent
            agreements);
      --legislative messages received from the President of the United
            States;
      --messages from the House of Representatives;
      --legislative actions as taken by the Senate (including motions made
            by Senators, points of order raised, and roll call votes
            taken);
      --amendments submitted and proposed for consideration;
      --bills and joint resolutions introduced; and
      --concurrent and Senate resolutions as submitted.
        These notes of the proceedings are then compiled in electronic form
    for eventual publication of the Senate Journal at the end of each
    calendar year. Compilation is efficiently accomplished through
    utilization of the LIS Senate Journal Authoring System. The Senate
    Journal is published each calendar year, and in 2010, the Journal Clerk
    completed the production of the 1,125 page 2009 volume. It is
    anticipated that work on the 2010 volume, including the Impeachment
    Journal, will conclude by December 2011.
    COOP
        In 2010, in support of the Office of the Secretary's commitment to
    COOP, the Office of the Journal Clerk participated in the annual
    Chamber Protective Actions/Briefing Center exercise in May.
    Additionally, monthly tests of BlackBerry emergency notification and
    laptop remote access procedures are conducted. The Journal Clerk
    continued the practice of scanning the daily Minute Book pages into a
    secure directory. The files are also copied onto a flash drive storage
    device weekly, and transported off-site each night. Although the actual
    Minute Books for each session of a Congress are sent to the National
    Archives a year following the end of a Congress, having easily
    accessible files, both on a remote server and on a secure portable
    storage device, will ensure timely reconstitution of the Minute Book
    data in the event of damage to, or destruction of, the physical Minute
    Book.

                 sos deg.OFFICIAL REPORTERS OF DEBATES

        The Office of the Official Reporters of Debates is responsible for
    the stenographic reporting, transcribing, and editing of the Senate
    Floor proceedings for publication in the Congressional Record. The
    Chief Reporter acts as the editor-in-chief, and the Coordinator
    functions as the technical production manager of the Senate portion of
    the Record. The office interacts with Senate personnel on additional
    materials to be included in the Record.
        On a continuing basis, all materials to be printed in the next
    day's edition of the Record are transmitted electronically and on paper
    to the GPO. Much of the transcript of Senate Floor proceedings and
    Morning Business is sent to the GPO electronically to allow for
    production of the Record in a cost-conscious and timely manner. In most
    instances, the paper copy of the Record is delivered by the GPO within
    2 to 3 hours of its content being placed on the Internet at
    approximately 7 a.m. every day.
        The Chief Reporter, in conjunction with Senate office and committee
    staff, works to ensure compliance with the ``2-page rule'' to cut down
    on the printing costs of the Record by controlling the amount of
    extraneous printing to be done by the GPO. As a result, these materials
    are often condensed so as not to exceed the rule and/or are cited and
    printed on Web sites with referencing so that they are available to the
    interested public.
        The Official Reporters of Debate completed the upgrade of its
    stenotype machines this year. This past year, the office purchased five
    additional Pro Cat Stylus stenotype machines, complementing the three
    machines that were purchased last fiscal year, resulting in the most
    efficient and up-to-date method of paperless recording of Senate
    debate. All reporters' stenographic notes are now saved to electronic
    files and are held for 5 years or more, saving the cost of storage and
    purchase of bundled stenotype paper that was used in the older
    machines.

                        sos deg.PARLIAMENTARIAN

        The Parliamentarian's Office continues to perform its essential
    institutional responsibilities to act as a neutral arbiter among all
    parties with an interest in the legislative process. These
    responsibilities include advising the chair, Senators and their staff,
    committee staff, House Members and their staffs, and administration
    officials on all matters requiring an interpretation of the Standing
    Rules of the Senate, the precedents of the Senate, and unanimous
    consent agreements, as well as provisions of public law affecting the
    proceedings of the Senate.
        The Parliamentarian or one of his assistants is always present on
    the Senate Floor when the Senate is in session, ready to assist the
    Presiding Officer in his or her official duties, as well as to assist
    any other Senator on procedural matters. The parliamentarians work
    closely with the staff of the Vice President of the United States and
    the Vice President himself whenever he performs his duties as President
    of the Senate.
        The parliamentarians serve as the agents of the Senate in
    coordinating the flow of legislation with the House of Representatives
    and with the President, and ensure that enrolled bills are signed in a
    timely manner by duly authorized officers of the Senate for
    presentation to the President.
        The parliamentarians monitor all proceedings on the floor of the
    Senate, advise the Presiding Officer on the competing rights of the
    Senators on the floor, and advise all Senators as to what is
    appropriate in debate. The parliamentarians keep track of time on the
    floor of the Senate when time is limited or controlled under the
    provisions of time agreements, statutes, or standing orders. The
    parliamentarians keep track of the amendments offered to the
    legislation pending on the Senate Floor, and monitor them for points of
    order. In this respect, the parliamentarians reviewed more than 1,600
    amendments during 2010 to determine if they met various procedural
    requirements, such as germaneness. The parliamentarians also reviewed
    thousands of pages of conference reports to determine what provisions
    could appropriately be included therein.
        The Office of the Parliamentarian is responsible for the referral
    to the appropriate committees of all legislation introduced in the
    Senate, all legislation received from the House, as well as all
    communications received from the executive branch, State and local
    governments, and private citizens. In order to perform this
    responsibility, the parliamentarians do extensive legal and legislative
    research. During 2010, the Parliamentarian and his assistants referred
    2,623 measures and 4,559 communications to the appropriate Senate
    committees. The office worked extensively with Senators and their
    staffs to advise them of the jurisdictional consequences of countless
    drafts of legislation, and evaluated the jurisdictional effect of
    proposed modifications in drafting. In 2010, as in the past, the
    parliamentarians conducted several briefings on Senate procedure to
    various groups of Senate staff and visiting international parliamentary
    staff, on a nonpartisan basis.
        During 2010, as has been the case in the past, the staff of the
    Parliamentarian's Office was frequently called on to analyze and advise
    Senators on a great number of issues arising under the Congressional
    Budget Act of 1974, the Trade Act of 1974, the Congressional Review
    Act, and many other provisions of law that authorize special procedural
    consideration of measures.
        During all of 2010, the parliamentarians were involved in
    interpreting the ethics reform proposals adopted in 2007, especially
    the language dealing with earmark accountability and scope of
    conference.
        Throughout 2010 until the convening of the 112th Congress, the
    parliamentarians reviewed all of the Senators' certificates of election
    for sufficiency and accuracy, returning those that were defective and
    reviewing their replacements.
        Since the election in 2010, all of the parliamentarians have
    participated in the orientation sessions for the newly elected Senators
    and have assisted each of them in their initial hours as Presiding
    Officers. The parliamentarians also participated in an orientation
    session on the Senate Floor for Senate staff.
    COOP
        The parliamentarians have each been trained on and successfully
    remotely access the office's computers and hard drives, facilitating
    communications, research, and other work after hours, and enabling them
    to have the office function during possible emergencies. The
    Parliamentarian's Office continues to participate extensively in
    emergency preparedness training for the Senate Chamber and has been
    heavily involved with the SAA Office of Police Operations, Security and
    Emergency Preparedness for years in the planning phases of the Senate's
    evacuation and shelter-in-place procedures.

                     sos deg.FINANCIAL OPERATIONS

    Disbursing Office
        The mission of the Senate Disbursing Office is to provide efficient
    and effective central financial and human resource data management,
    information, and advice to the offices of the United States Senate and
    to Members and employees of the Senate. The Senate Disbursing Office
    manages the collection of information from the distributed accounting
    locations within the Senate to formulate and consolidate the agency
    level budget, disburse the payroll, pay the Senate's bills, and provide
    appropriate counseling and advice. The Senate Disbursing Office
    collects information from Members and employees that is necessary to
    maintain and administer the retirement, health insurance, life
    insurance, and other central human resource programs and provides
    responsive, personal attention to Members and employees on an unbiased
    and confidential basis. The Senate Disbursing Office also manages the
    distribution of central financial and human resource information to the
    individual Member offices, committees, administrative and leadership
    offices in the Senate while maintaining the confidentiality of
    information for Members and Senate employees.
        The organization is structured to enhance its ability to provide
    quality work, maintain a high level of customer service, promote good
    internal controls, efficiency and teamwork, and provide for the
    appropriate levels of supervision and management. The long-term
    financial needs of the Senate are best served by an organization
    staffed with highly trained professionals who possess a high degree of
    institutional knowledge, sound judgment, and interpersonal skills that
    reflect the unique nature of the United States Senate.
    Executive Office
        The primary responsibilities, among others, of the Executive Office
    are to:
      --oversee the day-to-day operations of the Disbursing Office;
      --respond to any inquiries or questions;
      --maintain fully and properly trained staff;
      --ensure that the office is prepared to respond quickly and
            efficiently to any disaster or unique situation that may arise;
      --provide excellent customer service;
      --assist the Secretary of the Senate in the implementation of new
            legislation affecting any of her departments; and
      --handle all information requests from the Committee on
            Appropriations and the Committee on Rules and Administration
        The Disbursing Office, the Committee on Rules and Administration,
    the House of Representatives and the U.S. Treasury finalized an
    interagency agreement concerning payments for expenses made on behalf
    of the Congressional Oversight Panel established by Public Law 110-343,
    the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. The Disbursing Office
    continues to offer administrative support to this office.
        The Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2010, Public Law 111-68
    included an administrative provision requiring the Report of the
    Secretary of the Senate to be published and publicly posted online,
    starting with the report covering the first full semi-annual period of
    the 112th Congress. Disbursing met several times with the GPO to start
    the design of the Web page, and additional meetings will be held with
    all interested parties in the coming months to finalize the development
    of the report.
    Front Office--Administrative and Financial Services
        The Front Office is the main service area for all general Senate
    business and financial activity. The Front Office staff maintains the
    Senate's internal accountability of funds used in the groups daily
    operations. The reconciliation of such funds is executed on a daily
    basis. The Front Office staff also provides training to newly
    authorized payroll contacts along with continuing guidance to all
    contacts in the execution of business operations. It is the receiving
    point for most incoming expense vouchers, payroll actions, and employee
    benefits-related forms, and is the initial verification point to ensure
    that paperwork received in the Disbursing Office conforms to all
    applicable Senate rules, regulations, and statutes. The Front Office is
    the first line of service provided to Senators, officers, and
    employees. All new Senate employees (permanent and temporary) who will
    work in the Capitol Hill Senate offices are administered the required
    Oath of Office and Personnel Affidavit. Staff is also provided verbal
    and written detailed information regarding pay and benefits. Advances
    are issued to Senate staff authorized for official Senate travel
    through the Front Office and cash and check advances are entered and
    reconciled in Web FMIS. After the processing of certified expenses is
    complete, cash travel advances are repaid.
        Numerous inquiries are handled daily, ranging from pay, benefits,
    taxes and voucher processing, to reporting, laws, and Senate
    regulations; and must always be answered accurately and fully to
    provide the highest degree of customer service. Cash and checks
    received from Senate entities as part of their daily business are
    handled through the Front Office and become part of the Senate's
    accountability of federally appropriated funds and are then processed
    through the Senate's general ledger system. The Front Office maintains
    the Official Office Information Authorization Forms that authorize
    individuals to conduct various types of business with the Disbursing
    Office.
    General Activities
        Processed approximately 530 cash advances during the year and
    initialized 920 check/direct deposit advances.
        Received and processed more than 21,600 checks.
        Administered Oath of Office and Personnel Affidavits to more than
    1,700 new Senate staff and advised them of their benefits eligibility.
        Maintained brochures for 12 Federal health insurance carriers and
    distributed approximately 3,500 brochures to existing staff during the
    annual Federal Benefits Open Season and to new Senate employees during
    their Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) selection process.
        Provided 22 training sessions to new administrative managers.
        Administratively guided the three offices of the appointed Senators
    that resulted from the death or resignation of sitting Senators, and
    the 16 new Senate offices through the Senator-elect phase.
        The Front Office continues its daily reconciliation of operations
    and strengthening of internal office controls. Training and guidance to
    new administrative managers and business contacts continued and was
    enhanced by the revamping of training materials that were provided to
    newly authorized personnel. The Front Office initiated a scanning
    procedure that ensured secure flow of payroll-related documents through
    the processing phase. Front Office staff continued assisting employees
    in maximizing their Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) contributions and making
    sure they are aware of the TSP Catch-Up provisions. The contribution
    level for the new TSP employee automatic enrollment was emphasized. The
    Front Office continued to provide the Senate community with prompt,
    courteous, and informative advice regarding Disbursing Office
    operations.
    Payroll Section
        The Payroll Section maintains the Human Resources Management System
    (HRMS) and is responsible for processing, verifying, and warehousing
    all payroll information submitted to the Disbursing Office by Senators,
    committees, and other appointing officials for their staff, including
    appointments of employees, salary changes, title changes, transfers,
    and terminations. It is also responsible for input of all enrollments
    and elections submitted by Members and employees that affect their pay
    (e.g., retirement and benefits elections, tax withholding, TSP
    participation, allotments from pay, address changes, direct deposit
    elections, levies and garnishments, etc.) and for the issuance of
    accurate salary payments to Members and employees. The Payroll Section
    is responsible for the administration of the Senate Student Loan
    Repayment Program (SLP) and for the audit and reconciliation of the
    Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) and Federal Employees Dental and
    Vision Insurance Program (FED VIP) bill files received each pay period.
    The payroll section jointly maintains the ACH FedLine facilities with
    the A/P section for the normal transmittal of payroll deposits to the
    FRB. Payroll expenditure, projection, and allowance reports are
    distributed electronically to all Senate offices semimonthly. The
    payroll section issues the proper withholding and agency contribution
    reports to the Accounting Department and transmits the proper TSP
    information to the National Finance Center. In addition, the payroll
    section maintains earnings records, which are distributed to the Social
    Security Administration and employees' taxable earnings records, which
    are used for W-2 statements. This section is also responsible for the
    payroll expenditure data portion of the Report of the Secretary of the
    Senate and calculates, reconciles, and bills the Senate Employees Child
    Care Center for their staff employee contributions and forwards payment
    of those contributions to the Accounting Section. The Payroll Section
    provides guidance and counseling to staff and administrative managers
    on issues of pay, salaries, allowances, and projections.
    General Activities
        In January 2010, the payroll section conducted all year-end
    processing and reconciliation of pay records and produced W-2 forms for
    employees and Federal and State tax agencies. They also facilitated the
    imaging of those documents to the Document Imaging System. The payroll
    section maintained the normal schedule of processing TSP election
    forms.
        In January 2010, an employee cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) of
    2.42 percent was authorized and administered. Statutory rates and
    program caps were updated in HRMS. Required documentation was issued,
    received, reconciled, input, and adjusted as designated by appointing
    officials.
        The Disbursing Office, in tandem with SAA Technical Support,
    researched and procured a vendor to implement a new payroll system. The
    proposals of the bidders were diligently assessed and modifications
    requested. Several demonstrations and technical forums were attended
    and rated. Specific attention was paid to how the vendors would
    accommodate the Senate's unique requirements, laws and regulations
    governing the services and programs administered by the payroll system.
    After extensive coordination, feedback and assessment, an implementer
    selection was made. Staff attended week-long training to enhance their
    ability to participate in system requirements, development, and
    implementation. The Payroll Section also drafted and edited a complete
    revision and update of the Payroll Procedures Manual in anticipation of
    its need as a tool to facilitate the development and implementation of
    the new payroll system.
        As 2010 came to an end, the Disbursing Office and SAA had begun the
    process of system development and implementation with the new vendor.
    Fit gap sessions to analyze requirements started in February with an
    expected completion of Phase I of the project during fiscal year 2012.
        As a result of the passage of the Reservist Differential Pay
    legislation, the office worked with the SAA computer support staff to
    determine requirements, develop, test and implement programming
    changes, develop processes and procedures, and implement those within
    the guidelines set forth by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
    and Defense Financial and Accounting Services. Offices and affected
    employees were notified of the impact of the legislation.
        The automatic enrollment provisions of the TSP Enhancement Act of
    2009 took effect in August 2010. The office worked in tandem with the
    SAA computer support staff and the TSP to determine system
    requirements, develop, test, and implement changes and follow through
    with postimplementation testing and reporting. New procedures were
    developed and implemented and Senate-wide communications were written
    and distributed.
        Other minor changes were made to the HRMS as the need arose as a
    result of regulated and policy changes. Changes to the retirement
    creditability of Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) sick leave
    required legislative and procedural interpretation and required
    interagency cooperation and coordination. The Disbursing Office
    developed procedures and distributed communications throughout the
    Senate.
        The office procured a new retirement calculator tool that will
    provide additional functionality to retirement counselors and enhance
    their ability to provide a greater number of retirement estimates.
    Procedures, training and usage development will occur in 2011.
        In 2010, the payroll section implemented a number of system
    modifications as a result of legislative, regulatory, and procedural
    changes. The Department of the Treasury implemented a new Web-based
    process for purchasing savings bonds by payroll deduction, which
    required changes to existing procedures and required notification to
    the affected Senate Members and employees. Passage of Reservist
    Differential Pay was handled with coordinated development of
    requirements, testing, system implementation, and procedural
    development to facilitate the proper payments and tracking. Unusual
    changes to specific State tax law required system modifications so that
    residents of that State could remain in compliance with regards to
    their State tax withholding. This required system development, testing,
    implementation, and notification to the affected Members and staff.
        As a result of the 2010 expiring terms of several appointed
    Senators, the payroll section provided assistance and guidance to the
    offices of incoming and outgoing Members. They also assisted Senator
    Robert C. Byrd's staff upon his death. In addition, the staff
    researched the specifics of applicable Senate resolutions to determine
    their impact, if any, on outgoing and potentially outgoing staff in
    order to ensure that current procedures allowed for the proper
    administration of the resolutions and provided guidance to staff on
    those resolutions.
        The Payroll Section administers the SLP, which includes initiation,
    tracking and transmission of the payments, determination of
    eligibility, and coordination and reconciliation with office
    administrators and program participants. Because of regulatory changes
    within the Department of Education, extensive vendor processing changes
    were necessitated. As a result many payments to vendors were not being
    routed correctly once received at the designated address. This led to a
    higher than usual need for payment tracking, reconciliation, and check
    reissue. The SLP Administrator continues to improve processes for
    administration of the program and documenting procedures. In addition,
    the SLP Administrator developed an extensive list of ``frequently asked
    questions'' which were distributed to administrative managers and
    staff, and which have been published to Webster, the Senate's Intranet.
    Employee Benefits Section (EBS)
        The primary responsibilities of the EBS are administration of
    health insurance, life insurance, TSP, and all retirement programs for
    Members and employees of the Senate. This includes counseling,
    processing of paperwork, research, dissemination of information, and
    interpretation of retirement and benefits laws and regulations. The EBS
    staff is also expected to have a working knowledge of the FSA Program,
    the Federal Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance Program and Federal
    Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program (FEDVIP). In addition,
    the sectional work includes research and verification of all prior
    Federal service and prior Senate service for new and returning
    appointees.
        The EBS provides this information for payroll input. It also
    verifies the accuracy of the information provided and reconciles, as
    necessary, when official personnel folders and transcripts of service
    from other Federal agencies are received. Senate transcripts of
    service, including all official retirement and benefits documentation,
    are provided to other Federal agencies when Senate Members and staff
    are hired elsewhere in the Government. The EBS is responsible for the
    administration and tracking of employees placed in leave without pay to
    perform military service, including counseling with regard to continued
    benefits, TSP Make-up contributions and Reservist Differential
    payments. The EBS participates fully in the Centralized Enrollment
    Clearinghouse System (CLER) Program sponsored by OPM to reconcile all
    FEHB enrollments with carriers through the National Finance Center. EBS
    is responsible for its own forms inventory ordering and maintenance, as
    well as all benefits, TSP, and retirement brochures, for the Disbursing
    Office. The EBS processes employment verifications for loans, bar
    exams, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, OPM, and the Department of
    Defense (DOD), among others. Unemployment claim forms are completed,
    and employees are counseled on their eligibility. Department of Labor
    billings for unemployment compensation paid to Senate employees are
    reviewed in the EBS and submitted by voucher to the Accounting Section
    for payment, as are the employee fees associated with FSAs.
    Designations of Beneficiary for Federal Employees' Group Life Insurance
    (FEGLI), retirement, and unpaid compensation are filed and checked by
    the EBS.
    General Activities
        The year began with an extended 2009 benefits open season through
    January 31, 2010, as mandated by the OPM.
        With the death of Senator Robert C. Byrd, EBS counseled the
    Senator's survivors regarding all benefits payable and assisted with
    claims processing. EBS also provided benefits transition counseling to
    all staff employed by Senator Robert C. Byrd, as well as, the
    processing of the resultant retirement cases. EBS provided incoming
    benefits counseling to Senators who were appointed in 2010. In
    addition, the EBS provided outgoing counseling and retirement case
    processing to Senators who left office in 2010 and to their staff.
        The year brought about many benefits changes. OPM issued guidance
    resulting from Public Law 111-84, which allows for unused sick leave to
    be credited towards FERS retirement and the ability to redeposit FERS
    refunds. The Affordable Care Act of 2010 created important benefits
    changes that were emphasized in the 2010 Federal Benefits Open Season.
    FEHB and FSA incurred major changes in dependent eligibility rules.
    Flexible spending account, health savings accounts, and health
    reimbursement accounts were subject to over the counter over-the-
    counter drug eligibility and grace period changes. Premium assistance
    for temporary continuation of health insurance coverage under the
    American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was extended through May
    31, 2010.
        OPM issued final regulations to expand the definition of
    ``qualified relatives'' under the long-term care insurance. TSP changes
    in 2010 included the establishment of Spouse Beneficiary Accounts, the
    L Fund 2050, and the August 1, 2010 implementation of the TSP Automatic
    Enrollment provisions. In addition, the enrollment/change period for
    the FEGLI Program was increased to 60 days.
        Many employees changed health plans during the annual benefits open
    season. These changes were processed and reported to carriers very
    quickly. The Disbursing Office again offered Senate employees access to
    the online ``Checkbook Guide to Health Plans'' to research and compare
    FEHB plans. The Disbursing Office also hosted an open season benefits
    fair, which was informational and well attended. The Benefits Fair
    included representatives from local and national FEHB plans, as well as
    representatives from LTC, FSA, and FEDVIP.
        EBS conducted an agency-wide FERS seminar and attended interagency
    Benefits Officers and TSP meetings. This was especially important this
    year due to the many ongoing changes to many of the benefits programs.
        EBS coordinated with the Office of Education and Training to
    provide outgoing offices two sessions with the DC Department of
    Employment Services and two sessions with the OPM to assist with
    navigation of the Federal jobs Web site, USAJobs.
    Disbursing Office Financial Management
        Headed by the Deputy for Financial Management, the mission of
    Disbursing Office Financial Management is to coordinate all central
    financial policies, procedures, and activities; to process and pay
    expense vouchers within reasonable timeframes; and to provide
    professional customer service, training and confidential financial
    guidance to all Senate accounting locations. In addition, the Financial
    Management group is responsible for the compilation of the annual
    operating budget of the United States Senate for presentation to the
    Committee on Appropriations, and for the formulation, presentation and
    execution of the budget for the Senate. On a semiannual basis, this
    group is also responsible for the compilation, validation and
    completion of the Report of the Secretary of the Senate. Disbursing
    Office financial management is segmented into three functional
    departments:
      --Accounting;
      --Accounts Payable; and
      --Budget.
        The Accounts Payable department is further subdivided into three
    sections:
      --Vendor Administration;
      --Disbursements; and
      --Audit.
        The deputy coordinates the activities of the three functional
    departments, establishes central financial policies and procedures, and
    carries out the directives of the Financial Clerk and the Secretary of
    the Senate.
    Accounting Department
        During 2010, the Accounting Department approved 52,000 expense
    reimbursement vouchers and vendor uploads including 1,585 deposits for
    items ranging from receipts received by the Senate operations, such as
    the Senate's revolving funds, to cancelled subscription refunds from
    Member offices. General ledger maintenance also prompted the entry of
    thousands of adjustment entries that include the entry of all
    appropriation and allowance funding limitation transactions, all
    accounting cycle-closing entries, and all nonvoucher reimbursement
    transactions such as payroll adjustments, COLA budget uploads, stop
    payment requests, travel advances and repayments, and limited
    payability reimbursements. The department continues to scan all
    documentation for journal vouchers, deposits, accounting memos, and
    letters of certification to facilitate both storage concerns and COOP
    backup. The section also completed the 2009 year-end process to close
    and reset revenue, expense, and budgetary general ledger accounts to
    zero.
        The Disbursing Office also started working with a Member's office
    and the Senate Stationery Room to establish and design an online flag
    ordering system using the Department of the Treasury's Pay.gov system
    capabilities. The form has been completed and is undergoing review by
    the Treasury. The Member's office will serve as a pilot office with
    other offices joining as the process is refined. Testing is planned for
    February 2011 with a possibility of other offices joining in March
    2011.
        The Department of the Treasury's monthly financial reporting
    requirements includes a ``Statement of Accountability'' that details
    all increases and decreases to the accountability of the Secretary of
    the Senate, such as checks issued during the month and deposits
    received, as well as a detailed listing of cash on hand. Also, reported
    to the Department of the Treasury on a monthly basis is the ``Statement
    of Transactions According to Appropriations, Fund and Receipt
    Accounts,'' a summary of activity of all monies disbursed by the
    Secretary of the Senate through the Financial Clerk of the Senate. All
    activity by appropriation account is reconciled with the Department of
    the Treasury on a monthly and annual basis. The annual reconciliation
    of the Treasury Combined Statement is also used in the reporting to the
    Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as part of the submission of the
    annual operating budget of the Senate. During 2010, the Accounting
    Department tested and implemented a FAMIS system report to calculate
    the Treasury Combined Statement which is used for the OMB budget
    submissions.
        The Accounting Department continues to transmit Federal tax
    payments for Federal, Social Security, and Medicare taxes withheld from
    payroll expenditures, as well as the Senate's matching contribution for
    Social Security and Medicare to the FRB through the IRS Electronic
    Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). EFTPS is also be used to transmit
    the quarterly 941 reports to the IRS. Payments for employee
    withholdings for State income taxes were reported and paid on a
    quarterly basis to each State with applicable State income taxes
    withheld. System modifications installed in 2008 allow electronic ACH
    payment of quarterly State taxes has resulted in a 64 percent
    participation rate by taxing jurisdictions, up from 50 percent last
    year. Twenty-seven of 42 tax jurisdictions are receiving their
    quarterly State tax payments via ACH. Six States were added to the ACH
    payments for the third quarter payments. System modifications are
    necessary to transmit the remaining 15 tax jurisdictions via ACH
    because of the unique State requirements for their transmissions.
    Monthly reconciliations were performed with the National Finance Center
    regarding the employee withholdings and agency matching contributions
    for the TSP.
        There are also internal reporting requirements, such as the monthly
    ledger statements. These ledger statements detail all of the financial
    activity for the appropriate accounting period with regard to official
    expenditures in detail and summary form. It is the responsibility of
    the Accounting Department to review and verify the accuracy of the
    statements before Senate-wide distribution. During 2010 the Accounting
    Department worked with the SAA computer staff to test the electronic
    distribution of these monthly reports. It is hoped that this will be
    implemented in 2011.
        The Accounting Department, in conjunction with the Deputy for
    Financial Management and the Assistant Financial Clerk, continues to
    work closely with the SAA Finance Department in creating Senate-wide
    financial statements in accordance with OMB Bulletin 01-09, ``Form and
    Content of Agency Financial Statements'' and any updates required by
    OMB Circular A-136, ``Form and Content of the Performance and
    Accountability Reports''. Work continues toward the implementation of
    the fixed asset system, and financial management software has been
    upgraded and the license renewed.
        Accounting also has a budget division whose primary responsibility
    is compiling the annual operating budget of the United States Senate
    for presentation to the Committee on Appropriations. The Budget
    division is responsible for the preparation, issuance, and distribution
    of the budget justification worksheets. The budget justification
    worksheets for fiscal year 2012 were mailed to the Senate accounting
    locations and processed in November 2010. The budget baseline estimates
    for fiscal year 2012 were reported to OMB by mid-January 2011. The
    budget analyst is also responsible for the preparation of 1099's and
    the prompt submission of forms to the IRS before the end of the
    January.
    A/P: Vendor Administration
        The Vendor Administration Section maintains the accuracy and
    integrity of the Senate's central vendor (payee) file for the prompt
    completion of new vendor file requests and service requests related to
    the Disbursing Office's Web-based payment tracking system. This section
    also assists the information technology (IT) department by performing
    periodic testing and by monitoring the performance of the vendor
    system. Currently, more than 17,300 vendor records are stored in the
    vendor file, in addition to approximately 10,000 employee records.
    Daily requests for new vendor addresses or updates to existing vendor
    information are processed within 24 hours of receipt. Besides updating
    mailing addresses, the section facilitates the use of ACH by switching
    the mode of vendor payment from paper check to electronic deposit.
    Whenever a new remittance address is added to the vendor file, a
    standard letter is mailed to the vendor requesting tax and banking
    information, as well as contact and email information. If a vendor
    responds indicating they would like to receive ACH payments in the
    future, the method of payment is changed.
        All Web FMIS users are using the Staffer Functionality exclusively,
    and new offices are automatically established with it. Senate employees
    can electronically create, save, and file expense reimbursement forms,
    track their progress, and get detailed information on payments using
    this system. The most common service requests are for system user
    identification and passwords and for the reactivation of accounts.
    Employees may also request an alternative expense payment method.
    Employees can choose to have their payroll set up for direct deposit or
    paper check, but can have their expenses reimbursed by a method that
    differs from their salary payment method.
        The Vendor section works closely with the A/P Disbursements group
    to resolve returned ACH payments. ACH payments are returned
    periodically for a variety of reasons, including incorrect account
    numbers, incorrect routing numbers, and, in rare instances, a
    nonparticipating financial institution.
        The Vendor section electronically scans and stores all supporting
    documentation of existing vendor records and new vendor file requests.
    When this section receives replies asking for ACH participation, the
    vendors are asked if they wish to be notified by email when payments
    are sent. Currently, more than 95 percent of ACH participants also
    receive email notification of payment.
        During 2010, the Vendor section processed more than 2,200 vendor
    file additions, completed more than 3,200 service requests, mailed
    approximately 1,100 vendor information letters, and converted more than
    450 vendors from check payment to electronic payment.
    A/P: Disbursements Department
        The Disbursements Department is the entry and exit point for
    voucher payments. The department physically and electronically receives
    all vouchers submitted for payment. It also pays all of these vouchers,
    as well as the items submitted by upload and the various certifications
    and adjustments that are submitted periodically. The department
    received approximately 107,000 vouchers. All of these items were paid
    by the department via Treasury check or ACH. Multiple payments to the
    same payee are often combined. As a result, 18,500 checks were issued,
    while 71,100 ACH payments were required. The ACH volume increased 13
    percent while the check volume decreased 18 percent for the year. This
    is a desired result as the department continues its efforts to
    substantially reduce reliance on paper checks.
        The checkwriter system was upgraded and is now incorporated into
    Web FMIS. The new functionality allows greater ease of access to
    payment schedules for COOP purposes, but still maintains the security
    necessary to prevent unauthorized use of the system. Payment schedules
    may be retrieved, but payments cannot be made without proper
    authorization. Tests have been conducted to ensure functionality in
    case of emergency situations.
        After vouchers are paid, they are sorted and filed by document
    number. Vouchers are grouped in 6-month ``clusters'' to accommodate
    their retrieval for the semi-annual Report of the Secretary of the
    Senate. Files are maintained in-house for the current period and two
    prior periods, as space is limited. Older documents are stored in the
    Senate Support Facility (SSF). The inventoried items are sorted and
    recorded in a database for easy document retrieval. Several document
    retrieval missions were successfully conducted, and the department
    continues to work closely with warehouse personnel.
        A major function of the department is to prepare adjustment
    documents. Adjustments are varied, and include re-issuance of items
    held as accounts receivable collections, re-issuance of payments for
    which nonreceipt is claimed, and various supplemental adjustments
    received from the Payroll Department. Such adjustments are usually
    disbursed by check, but an increasing number are now handled
    electronically through the ACH. The department maintains a spreadsheet
    that tracks cases of nonreceipt of salary checks, including stop
    payment requests and re-issuance.
        The department also prepares the stop payments forms as required by
    the Department of the Treasury. Stop payments are requested by
    employees who have not received salary or expense reimbursements, and
    vendors claiming nonreceipt of expense checks. The Treasury Check
    Information System (TCIS) allows the department to electronically
    submit stop-payment requests and provides online access to digital
    images of negotiated checks for viewing and printing. Once a check is
    viewed, it is printed and may be scanned. Scanned images are then
    forwarded to the appropriate accounting locations via email. During
    2010, approximately 500 digital images of negotiated checks were
    provided, and an additional 125 requests were received for stop
    payments. The stop payment volume is a significant reduction (75
    percent) and is attributable to increased ACH payment and the TCIS
    check copy retrieval. The TCIS saves the Disbursing Office time, a
    $7.50 processing fee for each request, is Web-based, and is accessible
    from multiple workstations in Disbursing.
    A/P: Audit Department
        The A/P Audit Section is responsible for auditing vouchers and
    answering questions regarding voucher preparation and the
    permissibility of expenses and advances. This section provides advice
    and recommendations on the discretionary use of funds to the various
    accounting locations; identifies duplicate payments submitted by
    offices; monitors payments related to contracts; trains new
    administrative managers and chief clerks about Senate financial
    practices and the Senate's FMIS; and assists in the production of the
    Report of the Secretary of the Senate.
        The section is organized at three different levels. The first level
    is the supervisor. In addition to performing managerial tasks, the
    supervisor also audits and sanctions vouchers as needed, and
    coordinates testing related to system implementation and upgrades.
    Eleven auditors process all incoming vouchers and uploads, and 3 of
    them have the authority to sanction, on behalf of the Committee on
    Rules and Administration, vouchers not exceeding $100. They also
    sanction all travel and petty cash advances as well as non-Contingent
    Fund items such as legal counsel, legislative counsel, and the Office
    of Congressional Accessibility Services, as well as the for the
    Congressional Oversight Panel.
        A major function of the section is monitoring the fund advances for
    travel and petty cash. Travel advances must be repaid within 30 days of
    trip completion and petty cash advances must be repaid whenever new
    funding authority is established. The system accommodates the issuance,
    tracking, and repayment of advances. It also facilitates the entry and
    editing of election dates and vouchers for Senators-elect. In addition
    to other functionality, an advance type of petty cash was created and
    is in use. Regular petty cash audits are performed by the section, and
    all petty cash accounts were successfully audited in 2010.
        The A/P Audit Section processed more than 107,000 expense items in
    2010. Audit sanctioned approximately 56,000 vouchers under authority
    delegated by the Committee on Rules and Administration. This translates
    to roughly 9,600 vouchers processed per auditor, and 11,000 vouchers
    posted per certifier. The voucher processing consisted of providing
    interpretation of Senate rules, regulations and statutes and applying
    the same to expense claims, monitoring of contracts, and direct
    involvement with the Senate's central vendor file. On average, vouchers
    greater than $100 that do not have any issues or questions are
    received, audited, sanctioned electronically by the Senate Committee on
    Rules and Administration using Web FMIS, and are expected to be paid
    within 8 to 10 business days. These vouchers comprised more than 40
    percent of all vouchers, and, as in the previous year, Disbursing
    passed two postpayment audits performed by the Committee on Rules and
    Administration. In 2010, the average for Committee on Rules and
    Administration-sanctioned items was 5.45 days, and the average for
    Disbursing sanctioned items was 3.55 days, roughly 10 percent faster
    than the previous year.
        Uploaded items are of two varieties:
      --certified expenses; and
      --vendor payments.
        Certified expenses have been around since the 1980s, and include
    items such as stationery, telecommunications, postage, and equipment.
    Currently, the certifications include mass mail, franked mail, excess
    copy charges, Photography Studio, and Recording Studio charges.
    Expenses incurred by the various Senate offices are certified by SAA to
    the Disbursing Office on a monthly basis. The expenses are detailed on
    a spreadsheet which is also electronically uploaded. The physical
    voucher is audited and appropriate revisions are made.
    Telecommunications charges excepted, concentrated effort is put forth
    to ensure certified items appear as paid in the same month they are
    incurred. Telecommunications charges usually run 1 month behind as the
    SAA must wait for the bills from external vendors.
        Vendor uploads are used to pay vendors for the Senate Stationery
    Room, Senate Gift Shop and State office rentals, and refund security
    deposits for the Senate Page School. The methodology is roughly the
    same as that for certifications, but the payments rendered are for the
    individual vendors. Although these items are generally processed and
    paid quickly, the State office rents are generally paid a few days
    prior to the month of the rental, which is consistent with the general
    policy of paying rent in advance.
        The A/P Audit Group provided training sessions in the use of new
    systems: the process for generation of expense claims and the
    permissibility of expenses. They also participated in seminars
    sponsored by the Secretary of the Senate, the SAA, and the Library of
    Congress (LOC). The section trained 10 new administrative managers and
    chief clerks and conducted four informational sessions for Senate staff
    through seminars sponsored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
    The A/P group also routinely assists the IT department and other groups
    as necessary in the testing and implementation of new hardware,
    software, and system applications. The implementation of Web FMIS 2010-
    1 and 2010-2 allowed the SAA to use a Web-based system more
    extensively. Additionally, new functionality was made available for
    auditors to view the ESRs that accompany staff vouchers. A new menu
    structure was also created for inquiries. Electronic invoicing for the
    Senate-wide credit card provider, JP Morgan Chase, was also
    implemented.
    Disbursing Office Information Technology
                FMIS
        The Disbursing Office Information Technology (IT) department
    provides both functional and technical assistance for all Senate
    financial management activities. Activities revolve around support of
    Web FMIS which is used by staff in 140 Senate accounting locations
    (i.e., 100 Senate personal offices, 20 committees, 20 leadership and
    support offices, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the SAA,
    the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Audit section, and the
    Disbursing Office).
        Responsibilities of the department include:
      --supporting current systems;
      --testing infrastructure changes;
      --maintaining contact with system users to ensure their needs are
            met;
      --managing and testing new system development;
      --preparing for the 112th Congress;
      --planning;
      --managing the FMIS project, including contract management;
      --administering the Disbursing Office's Local Area Network (LAN); and
      --coordinating the Disbursing Office's disaster recovery activities.
        The Disbursing Office is the ``Abusiness owner@'' of FMIS and is
    responsible for making the functional decisions about FMIS. The SAA
    Technology Services staff is responsible for providing the technical
    infrastructure, including hardware (e.g., mainframe and servers),
    operating system software, database software, and telecommunications;
    technical assistance for these components, including migration
    management and database administration; and regular batch processing.
    The office utilizes the support of a contractor, along with the SAA who
    are responsible for operational support and application development.
    The three organizations work cooperatively.
        Highlights of the year include:
      --supporting more than 4,000 FMIS users, of which 83 percent are
            staff preparing ESRs;
      --implementing three releases of FMIS, including two pilots and
            moving the SAA onto Web-based interfaces:
        --a pilot of electronic invoicing, by which a user can easily
                create a voucher based on credit card data that the Senate
                receives electronically;
        --a new version of the ESR that builds the traveler's itinerary
                based on the location of reported expenses. This reduces
                rekeying of information by staffers and the number of
                errors corrected by voucher preparers and the DO A/P staff;
                and
        --WebPICS for SAA requisitioners, approvers, receivers, and voucher
                preparers; and
      --testing infrastructure changes that included upgrades to the
            mainframe operating system (Z/OS), the database (DB2), and the
            mainframe user security module; and
      --increasing the number of States to whom Disbursing sends State
            taxes via direct deposit from 21 to 27; and
      --preparing for the 112th Congress.
                Supporting Current Systems
        IT supports Web FMIS users in all 140 accounting locations, the
    departments in the Disbursing Office (e.g., A/P, Accounting,
    Disbursements, Vendor Administration, and Front Office sections), and
    the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration Audit staff. The
    activities associated with this responsibility include:
          User Support.--Providing functional and technical support to all
            Senate FMIS users; staffing the FMIS ``Ahelp desk@''; answering
            hundreds of questions; and meeting with chiefs of staff,
            administrative managers, chief clerks, and directors of various
            Senate offices as requested;
          Technical Problem Resolution.--Ensuring that technical problems
            are resolved;
          Monitor System Performance.--Checking system availability and
            statistics to identify system problems and coordinate
            performance tuning activities such as those for database access
            optimization;
          Security.--Maintaining user rights for all ADPICS, FAMIS, and Web
            FMIS users;
          System Administration.--Designing, testing, and making entries to
            tables that are at the core of the system;
          Support of Accounting Activities.--Performing functional testing
            and production validation of the cyclic accounting system
            activities. This includes rollover, the process by which tables
            for the new fiscal year are created, and archive/purge, the
            process by which data for the just lapsed fiscal year are
            archived for reporting purposes and removed from the current-
            year tables;
          Support of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration
            Postpayment Voucher Audit Process.--Providing the data from
            which the Committee on Rules and Administration Audit staff
            selects a statistically valid sample of vouchers for $100 or
            less. In this way, the Committee on Rules and Administration
            Audit staff review vouchers sanctioned under authority
            delegated to the Financial Clerk; and
          Training.--Providing functional training to all Senate FMIS
            users.
    Testing Infrastructure Changes
        The SAA provides the infrastructure on which FMIS operates,
    including the mainframe, the database, security hardware and software,
    and the telecommunications network. Activities for changes to the
    infrastructure include testing of all functionality prior to
    implementation and validating critical functionality
    postimplementation. During 2010, the SAA implemented two major upgrades
    to the FMIS infrastructure. These included upgrading the database, DB2,
    to version 9 in a two-step process, and upgrading the mainframe
    operating system to version 1, release 11, and at the same time,
    changing the mainframe security system to a Resource Access Control
    Facility.
    Maintaining Contact With System Users To Ensure Their Needs are Met
        Communicating with our large user base is critical to provide the
    excellent service. IT meets on a regularly scheduled basis with
    representatives from Accounting, A/P, and the SAA. In addition, IT
    meets with user groups as it gathers requirements for new
    functionality. Meetings are advertised, and users self-select to
    participate. This year, IT met with the administrative managers, chief
    clerks, and their staff who prepare the ESRs to discuss changes to the
    data entry for the ESRs. Additionally IT met with SAA users who prepare
    vouchers to discuss voucher and inquiry functionality developed in the
    second phase of ``WebPICS'', a Web-based front end to ADPICS with
    additional functionality developed to address SAA user needs.
    Managing and Testing New System Development
        During 2010, IT supervised development, performed extensive
    integration system testing, and implemented changes to FMIS subsystems.
    The implementation and production verification activities were
    completed over a weekend in order to minimize system downtime to users.
    Since 2006, multiple sub-system upgrades have been consolidated into
    two or three releases each year. This reduced the amount of regression
    testing required. In order to accurately reflect the variety of changes
    in each release, the releases are now numbered by fiscal year. During
    2010, Disbursing implemented the following three major releases:
      --FMIS r2010-1, implemented in January 2010;
      --FMIS r2010-2, implemented in August 2010; and
      --FMIS r2011-1, implemented in November 2010.
        In addition, IT worked on functionality that will be included in
    future releases, of which one, the FMIS Imaging Product Analysis is
    especially important.
                FMIS 2010-1
        FMIS 2010-1 was implemented in January 2010. This release included
    a small number of enhancements for WebFMIS users including an automated
    password reset feature, a warning to the ESR user when their document
    violates the 60-day election rule, adding graphs to the Web FMIS
    summary reports, and implementing a pilot of electronic invoice
    functionality, which allows a user to easily create credit card
    vouchers based on invoices received electronically from the Senate's
    credit card vendor. A pilot of the electronic invoice (EI)
    functionality began in January and was offered to all offices in June
    2010. By the end of 2010, 33 offices were using the EI functionality.
        The main focus of this release was implementing WebPICS, which
    enables SAA users to access ADPICS functionality through a Web-based
    front end, and provides additional functionality, such as a robust
    search function. The SAA follows a structured procurement process that
    includes creating requisitions, creating purchase orders from
    requisitions, receiving goods, entering invoices, and creating vouchers
    from purchase orders. For many years, the SAA has used ADPICS, a
    mainframe system, to perform these activities. This was especially
    difficult for occasional users. Using a variety of technologies, the
    WebPICS project replaces use of ADPICS with access to user-friendly Web
    pages. This release, the first of three planned releases, focused on
    the needs of requisitioners and requisition approvers, who are
    occasional users, and included:
      --a robust requisition search function, through which a user can find
            a requisition, its related purchase order, any change orders,
            and the document's history, by entering minimal information,
            such as the create date, the commodity code used, by whom it
            was created or the department for whom it was created;
      --links to purchase orders via a viewer that formats mainframe data
            into Web pages;
      --a streamlined requisition create function that displays data from
            multiple ADPICS screens on three tabs:
        --basic information on the header tab;
        --what is being requested and who will pay for it (i.e., commodity
                information, commodity specifications, and the accounting
                information) on the items tab; and
        --additional information for the vendor on the terms tab;
      --a streamlined requisition change order function that shows, on the
            same page, the old information and the new information;
      --look-up tables for selecting, rather than typing, information such
            as commodity codes and accounting codes when searching for and
            creating requisitions; and
      --use of the existing Web FMIS inbox to identify, check out, view,
            and approve or reject requisitions.
        A pilot of SAA requisitioners and requisition approvers began using
    WebPICS in early January 2010, and all requisitioners and approvers
    were trained and began using this functionality by the end of April, 3
    months ahead of schedule.
                FMIS 2010-2
        FMIS 2010-2 was implemented in August 2010. This release included a
    small number of enhancements for ESR users, but was focused on
    implementing new functionality for the SAA A/P process (e.g., receipt
    of goods, invoice processing and approval, voucher creation, and
    approval). Processes were simplified by automated retrieval of data
    from existing purchase orders. WebPICS provides pop-up windows where
    users enter the required data which the system uses to retrieve
    information from the purchase order. The user simply verifies retrieved
    data and adds information necessary to complete the process to create
    receiving reports, invoices and vouchers for payments against purchase
    orders.
        Four additional new search windows provide ability to easily find
    original and related documents, including related images stored by SAA
    Finance in OnBase:
      --receiving report search;
      --invoice voucher search;
      --expenditure search, which provides the ability to search for
            expenses processed within WebFMIS, WebPICS, and via upload, the
            combination of which was not previously available in one query;
            and
      --purchase orders search by vendor.
        The third WebPICS release, which will focus on purchase order
    creation and approval is scheduled for implementation in the spring of
    2011.
                FMIS 2011-1
        FMIS 2011-1 was implemented in November 2010 and included:
      --Adding two fields, invoice date and invoice receipt date, to the
            WebFMIS document create page and to the document search
            criteria page for all users;
      --Ability for SAA users to search by project code and job code using
            the document search criteria page;
      --Ability for users using the electronic invoice functionality to
            search by traveler's name using the document search criteria
            page; and
      --Introduction to a pilot group a new version of the ESR, ``Line Item
            Entry''.
        This version enables users to select 1 of 3 travel ESR types:
      --single trip;
      --multiple trips; or
      --interdepartmental travel, which requires different information
            depending on the type.
        Users then create an ESR in a more simplified format, entering
    expenses by date, location, and expense type on a line-by-line basis.
    The locations are selected from a list of cities provided by the U.S.
    Postal Service. This format enables the itinerary to be built
    automatically from the locations entered for each expense and is
    produced in the format that complies with the standards for the Report
    of the Secretary. This version of the ESR is expected to reduce
    rekeying by staff and reduce the corrections to itineraries made by
    office managers, chief clerks, and the Disbursing Office's A/P staff. A
    pilot of 10 offices and committees began in November 2010.
    Additionally, this version has been given to all new Senators of the
    112th Congress.
    FMIS Imaging
        During 2008, Disbursing implemented a prototype imaging system in
    which paper vouchers and supporting documentation were imaged by
    Disbursing staff and routed electronically. The hands-on experience of
    this prototype was especially useful in refining system requirements.
    Under the FMIS Imaging Product Analysis project, begun in 2009 and
    completed in 2010, software for the image database and image viewer was
    selected, and imaging and electronic signature requirements were
    finalized. This information was coordinated with a separate SAA smart
    card ID project; the smart cards will be used for electronic
    signatures.
        In October 2010, a task order for the adding document imaging and
    electronic signatures to WebFMIS was signed. This task order outlines
    work to be completed between now and the spring 2013 in three phases
    (six releases), including:
          Phase 1.--Imaging only pilot (spring 2011);
          Phase 2.--Office imaging and signatures pilot (summer 2011),
            extended pilot (winter 2012), and full roll-out (summer 2012);
            and
          Phase 3.--Staffer imaging and signatures pilot (winter 2012) and
            rollout (spring 2013).
    Preparing for the 112th Congress
        Using statistical information from fiscal year 2009 and fiscal year
    2010, IT prepared for each new Senator in the 112th Congress (including
    those whose terms began at the end of the 111th Congress) budget
    information based on the spending patterns for the 111th Congress.
    Additionally, IT participated in the planning sessions for the new
    office manager training at which Disbursing presented an outline for
    training and a sample quick reference guide regarding Senate financing.
    The WebFMIS training schedule for the first quarter of 2011 was
    revamped to include Web FMIS classes every 2 weeks instead of once a
    month.
    Planning
        The Disbursing IT department performs two main planning activities:
          Schedule Coordination.--Planning and coordinating a rolling 18-
            month schedule; and
          Strategic Planning.--Setting the priorities for further system
            enhancements.
                Schedule Coordination
        In 2010, this department continued to hold two types of meetings
    between Disbursing and the SAA to coordinate schedules and activities.
    These were:
          Project-specific Meetings.--A useful set of project-specific
            working meetings, each of which has a weekly set meeting time
            and meets for the duration of the project (e.g., archive/purge
            meetings and WebFMIS budget function meetings); and
          Technical Meetings.--A weekly meeting to discuss the active
            projects, including scheduling activities and resolving issues.
                Strategic Planning
        During 2010 Disbursing drafted a 5-year schedule based on earlier
    meetings to ``envision the future''. This is still under discussion and
    review and will be affected by the schedule for implementing a new
    payroll system, which will require substantial changes to current
    systems, including the interface from payroll into the General Ledger
    (FAMIS) of payroll expenditures and projections, the interface from the
    payroll system into the master vendor file (in FAMIS), and the payroll
    reports provided to the offices via WebFMIS.
    Managing the FMIS Project
        The responsibility for managing the FMIS project was transferred to
    the Disbursing IT department during the summer of 2003, and includes
    developing the task orders with contractors, overseeing their work, and
    reviewing invoices. In 2010, the following two new task orders were
    executed:
          Service Year 2011 Extended Operational Support.--Covers
            activities from September 2010 to August 2011; and
          FMIS Imaging Pilot.--Covers tasks for adding document imaging and
            electronic signatures to WebFMIS. This task order outlines work
            to be completed between now and the spring of 2013 (six
            releases in three phases), and provides functionality for the
            Secretary and the SAA, office managers/chief clerks, the
            Disbursing Office A/P and Accounting staff, and Senate staff
            who prepare ESRs (e.g., staff who travel).
        In addition, work continued under two task orders executed in prior
    years:
      --Service year 2010 Extended Operational Support (covered activities
            from September 2009 to August 2010); and
          FMIS Imaging Product Analysis.--Analyzed what software will be
            used for paperless voucher processing, including managing
            images, viewing images, annotating images and reading smart
            cards, which will have a component of the electronic signature.
    Administering the Disbursing Office's LAN
        The Disbursing Office continued to administer its own LAN, which is
    separate from the network used by the rest of the Secretary's Office.
    It is used by more than 50 staff. Upkeep of the LAN infrastructure,
    including performing routine daily tasks and replacing equipment
    regularly, is critical to providing services. In addition, there are a
    number of specialized administrative applications that are housed on
    the Disbursing Office LAN. During 2010, LAN administration activities
    included:
      --maintaining and upgrading the Disbursing Office's LAN;
      --installing specialized software; and
      --maintaining projects for the payroll and benefits section.
                Maintaining and Upgrading the Disbursing Office LAN
        Disbursing maintained the existing workstations with appropriate
    upgrades including:
      --installing OnWeb, a Web-based 3270 emulation software;
      --imaging critical PCs for easy recovery from hard disk crash or
            other PC failure;
      --replacing SNAP servers with Buffalo Terra stations; and
      --installing a video teleconferencing (VTC) unit in the Disbursing
            Office conference room.
                Installing Specialized Software
        Disbursing is responsible for sending direct deposit payments to
    the Federal Reserve Bank (FRB). During 2010, IT updated Disbursing's
    access to the FRB, due to a change in FRB-supplied equipment and
    ensured that access was functioning from the Alternate Computing
    Facility (ACF).
                Maintaining Projects for Payroll and EBSs
        During 2010, Disbursing supported three specialized applications
    for the Payroll and EBSs:
      --IT continued to support the imaging system developed by SAA staff.
            This system electronically captures and indexes payroll
            documents submitted at the front counter, and is critical for
            the Payroll and EBSs. At the end of 2009, a new version of this
            software was installed and only minor updates were needed in
            2010.
      --In addition, the systems administrator moved the CLER application,
            a health insurance benefits validation service, to a new
            standalone personal computer and worked with the SAA Network
            Operations staff to establish point-to-point security for
            access to the Department of Agriculture.
      --The Government Retirement Benefits (GRB) software, which enables
            benefits counselors to easily estimate retirement benefits
            based on different scenarios, is now available to Disbursing
            staff.
    Coordinating the Disbursing Office's Disaster Recovery Activities
        Disbursing anticipates testing in 2011 to include fail-over of its
    systems to the ACF, activity at the ACF, and a new activity: fail-back
    of the changed production data.
                    sos deg.administrative offices
    Chief Counsel for Employment
        The Office of the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment (SCCE) is a
    nonpartisan office established at the direction of the Joint Leadership
    in 1993 after enactment of the Government Employee Rights Act, which
    allowed Senate employees to file claims of employment discrimination
    against Senate offices. With the enactment of the Congressional
    Accountability Act of 1995 (CAA), as amended, Senate offices became
    subject to the requirements, responsibilities and obligations of 12
    employment laws. The CAA also established the Office of Compliance
    (OC). Among other things, the OC accepts and processes legislative
    employees' complaints that their employer has violated the CAA.
        The SCCE is charged with the legal defense of Senate offices in all
    employment law cases at both the administrative and court levels. The
    SCCE attorneys also provide legal advice to Senate offices about their
    obligations under employment laws. Accordingly, each of the 140 offices
    of the Senate is an individual client of the SCCE, and each office
    maintains an attorney-client relationship with the SCCE.
        The areas of responsibilities of the SCCE can be divided into the
    following categories:
      --Litigation (defending Senate offices in courts and at
            administrative hearings);
      --Mediations to resolve lawsuits;
      --Court-ordered alternative dispute resolutions;
      --Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) compliance;
      --Union drives, negotiations, and unfair labor practice charges;
      --Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliance;
      --Layoffs and office closings in compliance with the law;
      --Management training regarding legal responsibilities; and
      --Preventive legal advice.
    Litigation, Mediations, Alternative Dispute Resolutions
        SCCE defends each of the Senate employing offices in all court
    actions, hearings, proceedings, investigations, and negotiations
    relating to labor and employment laws. SCCE handles cases filed in the
    District of Columbia and cases filed in any of the 50 States.
    Compliance With OSHA and ADA
        The CAA mandates that, at least once each Congress, the OC shall
    inspect each Senate office to determine whether each office is in
    compliance with the OSHA and the public accommodation portion of the
    ADA. The CAA authorizes the OC to issue a public citation to any office
    that is not in compliance.
        SCCE provides legal assistance and advice to each Senate office to
    ensure that it is complying with the OSHA and the ADA. SCCE also
    represents each Senate office during the OC inspections and advises and
    represents each Senate office when a complaint of an OSHA or ADA
    violation is filed against the office or when a citation is issued.
        In 2010, SCCE pre-inspected 1,225 Senate rooms to ensure that
    Senate offices are complying with the OSHA and the ADA. Inspections
    included all Member offices, leadership and committee offices, offices
    of the SAA, offices of the Secretary of the Senate in the Capitol and
    the Capitol Visitor Center (CVC), as well as the Hart, Dirksen, and
    Russell Senate Office Buildings and offsite buildings used by the
    Senate.
        During 2010, the enthusiasm and participation of Senate offices in
    SCCE's pre-inspection safety program resulted in perfect safety records
    for 64 Member offices and 13 committees. At the conclusion of the
    inspections, no Senate office had any significant safety problem, and
    no citations were issued during the 111th Congress.
    Training Regarding Legal Responsibilities and Employee Rights
        An important part of the legal services the SCCE offers is
    educating Senate managers of their obligations and employees' rights
    under the employment laws that govern Senate offices. SCCE regularly
    conducts legal training for Senators, Senators-elect, and their staff,
    Senate employees, and Senate interns.
        In 2010, the lawyers of SCCE gave 69 legal seminars to Senate
    offices, including, among others:
      --The Congressional Accountability Act of 1995: Management's Rights
            and Obligations;
      --Senators-elect Orientation: Managing Your Offices in Compliance
            with Employment Laws;
      --Staff of Senators-elect: How to Set Up and Manage a Senate Office
            in Compliance with the Law;
      --Hiring the Right Employee: Advertising, Interviewing and Conducting
            Background Checks without Violating the Law;
      --How to Conduct I-9 and E-Verify Checks on New Hires;
      --Common Employment Law Mistakes Managers Make;
      --Evaluating, Disciplining, and Terminating Employees without
            Violating the Law;
      --Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: What is Prohibited and What Are
            Employees' Rights and Obligations;
      --A Manager's Guide to Preventing and Addressing Harassment in the
            Workplace;
      --Diversity in the Workplace: The Americans with Disabilities Act:
            What Managers Must Know about Complying with the Law;
      --Military Service Academies Interviewing in Compliance with the Law;
      --The Requirements of the Family and Medical Leave Act; and
      --The Requirements of the Equal Pay Act.
        In addition to the above 69 seminars, SCCE conducted a series of
    monthly seminars covering all major employment laws that govern Senate
    offices. The purpose of the seminars was to educate Senate management
    staff about their responsibility to ensure that their respective
    offices comply with the CAA. The series was open to all chiefs of
    staff, staff directors, administrative directors, chief clerks, and
    office managers. Individuals who completed the series received a
    certificate of completion from the Secretary of the Senate.
        SCCE, working with the Senate Radio and TV Studio, now streams its
    seminars to all Senate State offices so that the managers in State
    offices can participate electronically in all SCCE live seminars. In
    addition, SCCE electronically stores SCCE seminars to allow Senate
    managers who were unable to attend a seminar to review it
    electronically from their desk monitors at a later date. Finally, to
    ensure that all Senate managers, whether in Washington, DC or a State
    office, can easily learn about and register for SCCE's seminars, SCCE
    added an online seminar registration process to its Web site.
    Legal Advice
        SCCE meets daily with Members, chiefs of staff, administrative
    directors, office managers, staff directors, chief clerks, and counsel
    at their request to provide legal advice. For example, on a daily
    basis, SCCE advises Senate offices on matters such as interviewing,
    hiring, counseling, disciplining, and terminating employees in
    compliance with the law; handling and investigating sexual harassment
    complaints; accommodating the disabled; determining wage law
    requirements; meeting the requirements of the Family and Medical Leave
    Act; management's rights and obligations under union laws and the OSHA;
    and management's obligation to give leave to employees for military
    service. In 2010, the SCCE had more than 1,695 client legal advice
    meetings.
        Also, SCCE provides legal assistance to Senate offices to ensure
    that their office policies, job descriptions, interviewing guidelines,
    and performance evaluation forms comply with the law and are updated as
    employment laws change. In 2010, SCCE prepared 229 policy manuals for
    Member offices and committees.
    Union Drives, Negotiations, and Unfair Labor Practice Charges
        In 2010, the SCCE provided guidance to managers and supervisors
    regarding their legal and contractual obligations under union
    contracts.
    Environmental, Cost, and Space Savings
        It has now been 10 years since SCCE became the first Senate office
    to convert to a ``paperless'' office. By doing this, SCCE has benefited
    the environment, cut costs, cleared office space, reduced storage
    needs, and become more efficient. Having accomplished that project,
    SCCE turned its attention to eliminating hard copy legal books in its
    office. To this end, in 2009 SCCE eliminated 50 percent of its hard
    copy legal library. In 2010, SCCE further reduced its book inventory by
    20 percent. SCCE achieved this through a combination of scanning and
    converting to electronic books. In addition to the above-mentioned
    benefits, this project saves the office more than $6,000 annually, has
    freed approximately 288 square feet of office space, and has saved time
    by eliminating the need for staff members to update legal books on a
    weekly basis with new paper inserts.
                 sos deg.conservation and preservation
        The Office of Conservation and Preservation develops and
    coordinates programs directly related to the conservation and
    preservation of Senate records and materials for which the Secretary of
    the Senate has statutory and other authority. Initiatives include:
      --deacidification of paper and prints;
      --phased conservation for books and documents;
      --collection surveys, exhibits, and matting; and
      --framing for the Senate Leadership.
    Senate Library
        As mandated in the 1990 Senate Library Collection Condition Survey,
    the office continued to conduct an annual treatment of books identified
    by the survey as needing conservation or repair. In 2010 conservation
    treatments were completed for 173 volumes of a 7,000 volume collection
    of House hearings. Specifically, treatment involved recasing each
    volume as required, using alkaline end sheets, replacing acidic tab
    sheets with alkaline paper, cleaning the cloth cases, and replacing
    black spine title labels of each volume as necessary. The Office of
    Conservation and Preservation will continue preservation of the
    remaining 3,410 volumes.
    Preservation
        The Office of Conservation and Preservation completed 106 volumes
    of House and Senate hearings and Congressional Records for the Senate
    Library. These books were rebound with new end sheets and new covers
    using the old spines when possible.
    Committees
        Conservation and Preservation assisted the Committee on the Budget,
    Select Committee on Ethics, and the Joint Economic Committee with their
    books being sent to the GPO for binding.
    Exhibition
        Conservation and Preservation assisted the Senate Historical and
    Curator's offices in the installation of a new exhibition to mark the
    150th anniversary of the Civil War. The exhibition replaced the
    Inauguration exhibit in the Senate wing's first floor connecting
    corridor.

                            sos deg.CURATOR

        The Office of Senate Curator, on behalf of the Senate Commission on
    Art, develops and implements the museum and preservation programs for
    the United States Senate. The Curator collects, preserves, and
    interprets the Senate's fine and decorative arts, historic objects, and
    specific architectural features; and the Curator exercises supervisory
    responsibility for the historic chambers in the Capitol under the
    jurisdiction of the Commission. Through exhibitions, publications, and
    other programs, the Curator educates the public about the Senate and
    its collections.
    Collections, Commissions, Acquisitions, and Management
        This year 294 objects were accessioned into the Senate Collection.
    Many of these historic objects were deposited with the Curator's Office
    to ensure their safekeeping. These included a ticket from the 1945
    Presidential Address to Congress; 13 artifacts from the 1939
    congressional welcome of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth; 10 items
    from the 1941 visit of Prime Minister Winston Churchill; 17 artifacts
    from the 1943 visit of Madame Chiang Kai-Shek; various tickets,
    programs, badges, passes, and other objects from 10 different Inaugural
    ceremonies held between 1925 and 1989; 25 objects from funerals held in
    the Senate Chamber; items from the 1953 memorial service for Senator
    Robert A. Taft held in the Rotunda; and tickets from the Senate
    nomination hearing for Elena Kagan as Associate Justice of the Supreme
    Court of the United States.
        A painting of Senator Bill Frist by artist Michael Shane Neal was
    completed as part of the Senate Leadership Portrait Collection. It will
    be unveiled in March 2011.
        The most significant addition to the collection was the acquisition
    of four small paintings by 19th century artist Constantino Brumidi,
    created in preparation for frescoes in the Senate Reception Room (S-
    213) and the Senate Committee on Military Affairs and Militia (S-128).
    The Senate had long been aware of these historic oil sketches, which
    formed the largest known private collection of Brumidi's Capitol works.
        Thirty-nine new foreign gifts were reported in 2010 to the Select
    Committee on Ethics and deposited with the Senate Curator's office on
    behalf of the Secretary of the Senate. The office currently is
    responsible for 211 foreign gifts, which are catalogued and maintained
    in accordance with the Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act. Appropriate
    disposition of 80 foreign gifts was completed following established
    procedures.
        The Office of Senate Curator continued to document and care for the
    historic Russell Senate Office Building furnishings. In addition, the
    search continued for Russell Senate Office Building furniture located
    in private collections, museums, and libraries, and another 1909
    partner desk was returned to the Senate from the University of Nevada
    at Reno. In addition, the office drafted guidelines for the care of
    these century-old furnishings to prevent the physical degradation of
    the furniture, and, when appropriate, allow the pieces to be restored
    to their original 1909 appearance.
        The Curator's Office continued to work with the CVC project staff,
    AOC representatives, and their consultants to resolve problems with the
    heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment in the
    Curator's two CVC collection storage spaces. In June 2009, consultants
    determined that the HVAC equipment installed in the new storage rooms
    was unable to meet environmental requirements and needed to be
    replaced. New equipment was ordered and installed in the larger of the
    two rooms. Fine tuning of this system is nearing completion.
    Replacement of the HVAC equipment in the smaller room began in January
    2011. These HVAC systems are essential to the Curator's mission to
    preserve the Senate's significant collections.
        Maintenance of the Senate's historic clocks continued under a
    program established in 2009 to provide regularly scheduled care. Since
    the Curator's staff assumed responsibility last year for winding the
    Senate's historic clocks, the opportunity to closely observe their
    function has helped alleviate recurring problems with timekeeping.
        The care of collections on display has benefitted from the addition
    of an automated maintenance record system that is now part of the
    Senate collection database. Regular cleaning and care of the art and
    historic furnishings is now tracked and recorded. Staff is alerted when
    an object is due for care based on this new automated maintenance
    program, thus saving considerable time when scheduling and planning
    work.
        The office enhanced its emergency preparedness for the collection
    by identifying local disaster recovery companies to assist in a
    disaster, and finalizing an emergency disaster guide. The guide
    provides contact information on local art handlers, shippers, and
    conservators, as well as information on how to address the care of
    specific materials in the event of fire, water, infestation, or a
    chemical emergency. Additionally, all new loan agreements were
    digitized in a portable document format for easy retrieval off-site,
    and a map noting the current location of loaned objects was created to
    allow quick identification of loans that may be affected in an
    emergency situation.
        The office continued its program of photographing all objects for
    the collection database. More than 50 objects were photographed, and a
    total of 859 images out of 4,598 were resized for consistency. Staff
    also worked with the Senate Photographic Studio on several special
    projects, including documenting new signatures in the Senate Chamber
    desk drawers, recording conservation and installation of artwork, and
    photographing historic spaces. Such documentation is important for
    recordkeeping, disaster preparedness, use on Senate.gov, and for
    publications promoting the Senate's collections.
        In keeping with scheduled procedures, all Senate collection objects
    on display were inventoried, noting any changes in location. In
    addition, as directed by S. Res. 178 (108th Congress, 1st session), the
    office submitted inventories of the art and historic furnishings in the
    Senate to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. The
    inventories, which are submitted every 6 months, are compiled by the
    Curator's Office with assistance from the SAA and AOC's Superintendent
    of Senate Office Buildings.
        Both recordkeeping and protection of the Senate's historic mirror
    collection received considerable attention. The object files and
    database entries for all 94 mirrors were reviewed and updated based on
    established registration standards. Taking advantage of renovation
    work, the office installed protective plinths on two mirrors. By
    raising the mirrors from the mantels and creating a larger footprint,
    the plinths shield the mirror frames from spills, damage from objects
    displayed on the mantels, and routine dusting. In addition,
    implementation of a plan to provide routine, on-site professional care
    for the Senate's gilded frames, including mirror and picture frames,
    began in 2010. A list of treatable damage was developed and several
    frames repaired. Seventeen mirrors were also cleaned.
        The office coordinated the approval by the Senate Committee on
    Rules and Administration and the Commission on Art of mirror movement
    guidelines. The guidelines safeguard these important decorative objects
    from unnecessary damage due to excessive handling, and preserve each
    mirror's significance by retaining its historic association with a
    room.
        Staff worked with the SAA Cabinet Shop to develop a list of the
    multiple components of the writing boxes that are part of the Senate
    Chamber desks. A computerized drawing of one of the boxes was completed
    to aid in the work. Many of these writing boxes have sustained damage
    over the years, and a comprehensive survey is needed to prioritize
    repairs. Once the survey is completed, the Cabinet Shop will begin
    refurbishing the boxes.
        The official Senate chinaware was used at 16 receptions for
    distinguished guests, both foreign and domestic, including a luncheon
    for the King of Jordan, a tea for the President of Russia, and a tea
    for the President of Haiti. The Secretary's china was inventoried and
    used at three receptions sponsored by the chairman of the Senate
    Foreign Relations Committee.
    Conservation and Restoration
        In addition to the regular maintenance required for the Senate's
    historic clocks, extensive conservation occurred on two clocks: the
    ``Ohio'' clock and the architectural shelf clock in the Old Senate
    Chamber. Both clocks have significant histories, and are exceptional
    examples of 19th century American clock making.
        The ``Ohio'' clock was purchased from Thomas Voigt of Philadelphia
    in 1816, to be used in the Senate Chamber after renovations were
    completed following the burning of the Capitol by the British. After
    194 years of continuous use, accumulated grime, layers of varnish, and
    repairs had taken their toll on the case and the eagle. Conservators
    conducted microscopic studies of the finish layers that had built up
    over time. Their findings provided new and exciting information about
    the clock, and were the basis for re-gilding the historic eagle. The
    clock's movement also required extensive repairs, especially to the
    hands and the timekeeping mechanism. As a result of this conservation,
    the ``Ohio'' clock now accurately reflects its 19th century appearance,
    and, it is hoped, will continue to run for another 200 years.
        The architectural shelf clock was purchased from the Bailey and
    Kitchen Company of Philadelphia in 1846 to serve as the timepiece for
    the Old Senate Chamber following removal of the ``Ohio'' clock. The
    Bailey clock needed thorough cleaning and repair, as well as
    replacement of material that has worn away over time due to continuous
    use. During the conservation of the two clocks, the Curator's office
    obtained new information about their physical histories that could only
    be discovered during the course of treatment.
        A condition assessment was completed in order to develop a
    comprehensive scope of work for the restoration of the Senate Chamber
    desk inkwells and sanders. These artifacts date to about 1930, and are
    starting to show their age. The evaluation helped identify damaged
    glass in need of replacement, broken or missing hinges, and corrosion
    to the metal and loss of patina. The next phase is to finalize a scope
    of work and select a conservator. Conservation is projected to begin in
    2012 when other work in the chamber is scheduled.
        Three portraits recently acquired for the Senate Leadership
    Portrait Collection received preservation treatment. The portraits of
    Senators Robert C. Byrd, Tom Daschle, and Trent Lott were given a final
    protective coating of varnish, which is done only after the paint is
    completely dry.
        The office began the restoration of the eight Flemish oak benches
    purchased in 1899 for the Senate Reception Room. Over time, their
    carved back panels had been removed, their seats and backs upholstered,
    and they were poorly refinished multiple times. The conservation
    process included research into the original carved panels and finish,
    and the difficult repair of the extensive upholstery damage. Once
    returned to the Senate, the benches will reflect their original
    appearance, and be ready to provide another century of service.
    Historic Preservation
        The Senate's historic preservation program seeks to formulate a
    solid preservation policy reflective of the Senate's interests and the
    need to preserve the Capitol's historic fabric and historical artistic
    intent. Through various initiatives, the preservation program has
    positioned itself as a valuable resource for the Senate, ensuring that
    all projects are carefully considered and weighed in light of sound
    preservation practices.
        The Curator's Office continued to work closely with the AOC and the
    SAA to review, comment, plan, and document Senate-side construction
    projects (many of which are long-term initiatives) that involve or
    affect historic resources. Such construction and conservation efforts
    included:
      --energy lighting upgrades;
      --first responder antennae installation;
      --mural restoration;
      --smoke purge system installation;
      --wall and ceiling restoration;
      --scagliola conservation;
      --third floor plaster repair; and
      --the Brumidi Corridors restoration.
        Through this work, the Curator's Office was able to ensure that the
    highest preservation standards possible were applied to all Capitol
    projects. The Curator's office continued its participation in a working
    group (whose other members were the SAA, AOC, and Rules Committee) to
    engage in several building projects to conserve and protect public
    spaces and historic assets. In areas with conserved scagliola, the
    office worked with the SAA to develop and install various surface
    protection measures. Similarly, the Curator's Office worked with the
    SAA to devise a solution to the furniture in the Brumidi Corridors
    north door entrance. The challenging Senate Reception Room restoration
    and rehabilitation project, developed by the Senate Curator and the AOC
    Curator, has successfully moved forward. A pilot conservation project
    was initiated by the AOC for part of the decorative wall design. The
    Reception Room has a very complex pattern of surface treatments that
    involve delicate toned glazes and precise application methods. The
    office arranged to have existing room condition drawings completed,
    surveyed the floor tiles, and placed informational signs in the room
    detailing the conservation. Once the pilot is completed in late 2011,
    the restoration of the remaining wall surfaces should proceed more
    quickly.
        Regarding the Brumidi Corridors restoration, the office assisted
    the AOC in garnering support for a comprehensive, time-bound plan for
    finishing the corridors. With the support of the Committee on Rules and
    Administration and Senate Commission on Art, it is hoped that this 5-
    year plan can move forward in 2011. It will be a major achievement when
    these treasured corridors can be returned to their original artistry.
    Historic Chambers
        The Curator's staff continued to maintain the Old Senate and Old
    Supreme Court Chambers, and coordinated periodic use of both rooms for
    special occasions. The office staff worked with the USCP on the
    procedures developed to record the after-hours access to the historic
    chambers by current Members of Congress. Eighty-five requests were
    received from current Members for after-hours access to the Old Senate
    and Old Supreme Court Chambers.
        Of special significance in the Old Senate Chamber was the re-
    enactment swearing-in ceremonies for five Senators, and the closed
    Senate session on the New START Treaty.
    Loans to and From the Collection
        A total of 61 historic objects and paintings are currently on loan
    to the Curator's Office on behalf of Senate leadership and offices in
    the Senate wing of the Capitol. The staff returned five loans,
    coordinated six new loans, and renewed loan agreements for 34 other
    objects. More than 37 loans are projected to be renewed next year.
    Publications and Exhibitions
        The Senate Commission on Art's enabling legislation (2 U.S.C. 2104)
    requires that ``at least every ten years'' a Senate document be
    published which lists all works of art, historical objects, and
    exhibits currently within the Senate wing of the Capitol and the Senate
    Office Buildings. The document was published this year with the
    assistance of GPO. Encompassing more than 4,000 works of art and
    artifacts, the inventory records the growth of the Senate collection
    over the last 10 years; demonstrates the office's concerted effort to
    acquire objects that enhance the collection; and provides a publicly
    accessible list of the entire collection.
        At the request of the Republican Leader's Office, the Curator
    worked with the Senate Historical Office to produce a booklet to
    supplement the existing Leader's suite brochure. The supplemental
    publication includes color images and descriptions on the art in the
    suite and highlights Kentucky connections to the suite's history.
        In recognition of the Congressional Gold Medal to be awarded to
    Constantino Brumidi, the office developed a publication on the
    Capitol's artist. Staff worked with GPO on the layout and design for
    the book, and the first two chapters have been completed. This
    illustrated publication will highlight new scholarship from historians,
    curators, and conservators about Brumidi's artistic endeavors in the
    Senate wing of the Capitol.
        In conjunction with the Senate Library and Senate Historical
    Office, staff installed two exhibits outside the newly remodeled
    Dirksen G-50 hearing room as requested by the Rules Committee. The
    exhibits were placed in the showcases built into the walls of the
    room's vestibule. One case highlights Senator Everett M. Dirksen, for
    whom the building was named; the other case features the building--its
    origins, construction, and architectural details.
        A new exhibition was installed to mark the 150th anniversary of the
    Civil War, replacing the Inauguration exhibit in the Senate wing's
    first floor connecting corridor. This project was a joint effort
    between the Senate Historical Office, Curator's Office, with assistance
    from the Office of Conservation and Preservation, GPO, and the AOC
    Paintings and Decorating Division. Traditionally, the story of the
    Civil War is told from the perspective of the President or his military
    commanders, but this exhibit illustrates the crucial role played by the
    Senate and its Members during this national crisis.
        Curator's staff finalized an online Web exhibit on Senate.gov
    dispelling myths and rumors often heard about Senate art. Seven
    different ``myths'' are included in the initial posting, featuring the
    most prominent and oft-repeated apocryphal stories. The office also
    increased its presence on the Web this year with a new section
    highlighting the Senate's decorative art collection. Seventy-two
    artifact pages were posted, from gilded mirrors and historic clocks, to
    Senate Restaurant china, snuff boxes, and other important Senate
    heirlooms. In addition, an online exhibition featuring artifacts
    related to funerals held in the Senate Chamber was posted; and a new
    Web section titled, ``Curator's Picks,'' highlighting the Curator's
    favorite works in the Senate Collection, will be completed shortly.
    Staff also proceeded with the design and outline for an historic spaces
    section for Senate.gov. When completed, the site will guide visitors
    through such treasures as the Old Senate and Old Supreme Court
    Chambers, the President's Room, and other significant historic spaces.
        At the request of the Committee on Rules and Administration, and
    pursuant to S. Res. 53, the office installed a bronze plaque honoring
    the work of African-American slaves in building the U.S. Capitol. The
    plaque is located in the third floor east front connecting corridor of
    the Senate wing, where a portion of the Capitol's original 1800
    exterior wall can be seen.
    Collaborations, Educational Programs, and Events
        The Curator's staff assisted the National Archives again this year
    with two exhibits for display in the vault at the Center for
    Legislative Archives. Objects related to the Senate Chamber's 150th
    anniversary continued on display, and were replaced with an exhibition
    of objects related to Constantino Brumidi.
        The Curator and staff assisted with numerous CVC-related projects
    throughout the year. The Curator, Associate Curator, and administrator
    provided support for the Congressional Historical Interpretation
    Program (CHIP), including developing a new e-learning program and
    guidebook; participated in the morning ``briefings'' to the Capitol
    Guide Service to better inform them on Senate art and history;
    conducted exhibition lectures for the public; reviewed exhibition text
    and images; and at the request of the CVC oversight for the Senate, the
    Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, continued to work closely
    with the House Curator and AOC Curator to review products and
    publications for the CVC gift shop.
        The Senate Curator assisted the AOC Curator and House Curator on
    various art-related research and projects, most notably the Rosa Parks
    commission, display of the House Bierstadt paintings, and conservation-
    related matters. The Senate Curator and staff also gave lectures on the
    Senate's art and historical collections to various historical groups
    and art museums. The staffs further assisted with the Secretary's
    Senate staff lecture and tour series and were regular contributors to
    Unum, the Secretary's newsletter.
    Office Administration and Automation
        The collections management database was reviewed, assessed, and
    improved to include the reconfiguration of the artist information,
    updates to loan and inscription records, and the creation of an object
    maintenance table. This work will allow more efficient search
    capabilities, a stable database, and an easier way of transferring
    information into reports.
        In the area of file management, the Curator's staff completed a
    major restructuring of the office's electronic files, applying a new
    organizational matrix and file naming protocols. Combined with this
    effort, the office developed and implemented project close-out
    procedures. This standardization and consistent records collation has
    greatly improved the usability of the office resources, streamlined
    office recordkeeping, and enhanced research capabilities.
    COOP Planning
        In the area of COOP preparedness, the office conducted its annual
    table top exercise and trained staff to use remote desktop access
    through a series of work-from-home exercises. The exercises proved
    effective in identifying problems and troubleshooting issues before a
    true emergency occurs.
    Objectives for 2011
        Conservation and preservation of the Senate's collections continue
    to be a priority, and several major projects are planned for 2011. Two
    of the Senate's most iconic works in the Old Senate Chamber will be
    restored:
      --the Eagle and Shield sculpture; and
      --the portrait of George Washington by Rembrandt Peale.
        In preparation, a detailed review of past treatments and analyses
    by various conservators was undertaken in 2010. A scope of work will be
    developed and a panel of experts will assist in the review process. The
    conservation schedule will be coordinated with repairs planned in the
    Old Senate so that the works of art are out of harm's way when
    renovations begin. Additionally, conservation of the Senate Reception
    Room benches will be completed.
        Based on the findings from a condition assessment of the Senate's
    collection of historic clocks completed in 2008, the Curator's Office
    will continue to schedule necessary conservation for the clocks to
    avoid deterioration of their parts and their function as accurate
    timepieces. The tall case clock in the Vice President's Ceremonial
    Office is next scheduled for treatment; both the case and movement will
    require conservation.
        Staff will begin the survey of the Senate Chamber desk writing
    boxes, with the assistance of the SAA Cabinet Shop, and develop a plan
    for their repair and ongoing maintenance. The interior and exterior of
    the writing boxes will be assessed for condition, and the various
    components will be inspected and documented. Repair work will begin in
    2012, depending on the Senate's schedule.
        With regards to the care of the Senate's historic mirrors, staff
    will inventory the historic Russell House Office Building mirrors and
    initiate a maintenance program for the nine historic oversized mirrors
    located in committee hearing rooms. In order to increase the skill and
    knowledge of the Curator's Office, several staff will participate in
    hands-on training related to basic gilded frame repair. This will
    reduce the need for professional conservators, improve the response
    time to urgent repairs, and save the Senate money over time.
        In the area of collections management, the office will continue
    reviewing photographs in the collections database to ascertain that
    each object has a documentation photograph and that it meets required
    size parameters.
        The office will further efforts to locate and recover historic
    artifacts associated with the Senate, specifically tickets and programs
    to Senate Chamber funerals and historic furnishings associated with the
    Senate and Supreme Court (when it met in the Capitol).
        The Curator's staff will confer with the AOC regarding preservation
    issues related to Senate restoration and remodeling projects,
    disseminate project information to the Senate, develop preservation
    projects at the request of the Senate, conduct condition inspections,
    and arrange necessary maintenance. The bulk of the office's project
    management will involve advancing the restoration and rehabilitation of
    the Brumidi Corridors, the Senate Reception Room, and the Strom
    Thurmond Room.
        With the assistance of GPO and the AOC Senate Superintendent, the
    Curator's Office will create a new educational exhibit and brochure for
    the sculpture Mountains and Clouds, located in the Hart Senate Office
    Building atrium. The exhibit will feature information on the artist,
    sculpture, conservation, and the maquette, or scale model. An exhibit
    will also be mounted for the four new Brumidi paintings. The sketches
    will be displayed in a public area, so that staff and visitors can
    appreciate these important works of art.
        Other education efforts will focus on Senate.gov. Staff will
    continue to add objects to the decorative art section, as well as
    update the Senate Chamber desk site to reflect the new seating
    arrangement for the 112th Congress. A Web supplement will be added to
    the United States Senate Catalogue of Fine Art, highlighting the art
    collected by the Senate since the catalogue was published in 2002.
    Additionally, the office will develop a schematic and assemble
    resources for posting the historic spaces site. The first room targeted
    will be the Old Senate Chamber. The historic spaces site will feature
    the historical, artistic, and decorative elements of each space, as
    well as restoration details where applicable.
        The collections management database will be reviewed by the office
    to determine if it can continue to serve the Senate's growing needs.
    The collections database will also be backed up, cloned, and compressed
    on a regular basis to prevent further corruption or potential loss of
    data.
        The office maintains a digital documentation database of all
    legislation, precedents, and procedures related to the Senate
    Commission on Art and Senate Curator's Office. These electronic records
    will be upgraded and implemented with indexes and full annotations,
    allowing easier search capabilities and access during a COOP emergency.
        Also in the area of COOP preparedness, the office will conduct its
    annual table top exercise, will refine and improve the navigability of
    its online COOP plan, and will continue with its series of work-from-
    home exercises to best prepare the office for an emergency situation.
    Finally, the office will plan for any crisis that may affect the
    Senate's collections by finalizing the disaster recovery guide to
    include the new collection storage areas in the CVC.

                    sos deg.EDUCATION AND TRAINING

        The Joint Office of Education and Training provides employee
    training and development opportunities for all Senate staff in
    Washington, DC and the States. There are two branches within the
    office: Education and Training and Health Promotion. The Education and
    Training branch is responsible for providing management and leadership
    development, training on human resources issues and staff benefits,
    writing, editing, legislative research and time management, as well as
    offering technical training support for approved software packages and
    equipment and new staff and intern information in either Washington, DC
    or the State offices. This branch provides training as instructor-led
    classes; one-on-one coaching sessions; specialized vendor provided
    training; video teleconferencing; webinars; Internet-based training,
    documentation, job-aids, and quickcards. The Health Promotion branch
    provides seminars, classes, and screenings on health and wellness
    issues. This branch also coordinates an annual health fair for all
    Senate employees and plans blood drives every year.
    Capitol Hill Training Events
        The Office of Education and Training offered 1,278 classes and
    events on Capitol Hill in 2010, drawing more than 10,000 participants.
    The registration desk handled more than 25,000 email and phone requests
    for training and documentation.
        The above total includes 438 customized training sessions for 1,937
    staff members. These sessions ranged from in-depth training of Senate
    office system administrators, conflict resolution, and organizational
    development. The office provides individual consultation on Web site
    development and office systems training, as well as classes in resume
    and interviewing skills building for staff whose Members have died,
    announced their retirements, or been defeated.
        The Senate's Intern Program is also a focus of the office. The
    office provides training for intern coordinators as well as five
    orientation and training sessions for approximately 500 interns.
        The annual Senate Services Expo for Senate office staff had 35
    presenters from the offices of the Secretary of the Senate, SAA, AOC,
    USCP, and LOC providing an overview of their services to 250 staff.
    This is part of the orientation for new staff and the aides to the
    Senators-elect in addition to the seven orientation sessions held
    shortly after the November elections.
    State Training Events
        The Office of Education and Training provided 85 learning
    opportunities to State offices for which 2,813 State staff registered.
        The office continues to offer the State Training Fair Program and
    video teleconferencing and webinars as a means to train State staff. In
    2010, two sessions of the State Training Fairs were attended by 63
    State staff. In addition, 62 State administrative managers and
    directors attended the State Directors Forum; 43 State staff
    participated in a a Constituent Services Forum. Education and Training
    also provided advanced all-staff meeting facilitation to more than 20
    offices that were attended by more than 650 staff. Additionally, the
    office offered 33 Video Teleconferencing classes, for which 1,707 State
    staff registered and 28 webinars that were attended by 288.
        To date, 692 State and Hill staff have registered and accessed a
    total of 1,534 different lessons and publications using Internet-based
    training covering technical, professional, and language skills. This
    allows staff in both the Hill and State to take training at their
    convenience. Education and Training also provides 54 Senate-specific
    self-paced lessons that have been accessed more than 3,200 times.
    Health Promotion
        In the Health Promotion area, 3,070 staff participated in 56
    activities throughout the year. These activities included:
      --lung function and kidney screenings;
      --eight blood drives;
      --the Health and Fitness Day;
      --seminars on health-related topics; and
      --the Annual Senate Health Fair.
        Health Promotion also coordinates Weight Watchers, yoga, and
    Pilates sessions using its revolving fund. More than 260 staff
    participated in at least one of these programs.

                           sos deg.GIFT SHOP

        Since its establishment in 1992 (2 U.S.C. 121d), the Senate Gift
    Shop has continued to provide outstanding service and products that
    maintain the integrity of the Senate while increasing the public's
    awareness of its mission and history. The gift shop serves Senators,
    their spouses, staffs, constituents, and the many visitors to the U.S.
    Capitol complex. The products available include a wide range of fine
    gift items, collectibles, and souvenirs created exclusively for the
    U.S. Senate.
    Facilities
        In addition to three physical locations, the gift shop has an
    online presence on Webster, the Senate's Intranet. The Web site
    currently offers an increasing selection of products that can be
    purchased by phone, email, or by printing and faxing the order form
    provided on the Web site. Along with offering over-the-counter and
    walk-in sales, as well as limited Intranet services, the gift shop
    administrative office provides mail order service via phone or fax, and
    special order and catalogue sales via in person visit, email, phone, or
    fax.
        The gift shop maintains two warehouse facilities. The bulk of the
    gift shop's stock is held in the Senate Storage Facility (SSF), an
    offsite warehouse. While the SAA is in charge of the overall management
    of the SSF, the director of the gift shop has responsibility for the
    operation and oversight of the interior spaces assigned for gift shop
    use. Storing inventory in this centralized, climate-controlled facility
    provides protection for the gift shop's valuable inventory in terms of
    physical security as well as improved shelf life for perishable and
    nonperishable items alike.
        The second gift shop warehouse is maintained within the Capitol
    complex. This facility serves as the point of distribution of
    merchandise to the gift shop store and the Capitol gift shop counter,
    both of which have limited storage space. This warehouse accommodates
    the gift shop's receiving, shipping, and engraving departments, as well
    as supplying the inventory sold through the administrative and special
    order office.
    Sales Activities
        Sales recorded for fiscal year 2010 were $1,566,884.32. Cost of
    goods sold during this same period was $1,275,359.81, accounting for a
    gross profit on sales of $291,524.51.
        In addition to tracking gross profit from sales, the Senate Gift
    Shop maintains a revolving fund and a record of inventory purchased for
    resale. As of October 1, 2009, the balance in the revolving fund was
    $2,969,766.74. The inventory purchased for resale was valued at
    $2,964,598.93.
    Additional Activity
                Government Accountability Office (GAO) Audit
        At the request of the Secretary of the Senate, in September 2010,
    GAO conducted an inventory observation and audit of the gift shop
    financial operations. The established departmental procedures and
    policies implemented on a daily, monthly, and annual basis proved to be
    instrumental in the gift shop's achieving a positive review during the
    verbal feedback portion of the GAO exit interview. The recommendations
    provided by the GAO at the conclusion of their observation had either
    already been implemented or will be adapted as recommended as part of
    our future operational procedures.
                Environmental Fair
        The gift shop participated in both 2010 U.S. Senate Environmental
    and Energy Fairs sponsored by the AOC. Environmentally friendly
    products that were displayed included wooden flag and desk boxes,
    wooden pens, custom-designed wrapping paper produced from recycled
    paper, aluminum water bottles, biodegradable travel mugs, and a travel
    mug produced from 100 percent U.S. natural corn products.

                Selected Accomplishments in Fiscal Year 2010
                    Official Congressional Holiday Ornaments

        The design and style of this year's Congressional Holiday Ornament
    reflected a new direction for the gift shop ornament program. No longer
    part of a 4-year series with a unifying theme, this year the ornament
    was created of cutwork metal assembled to create a three-dimensional
    scene. Colorful enameling on all sides completed the effect. The 2010
    holiday ornament is a winter scene of the east front of the Capitol on
    a snowy evening with a horse-drawn carriage that suggests a time in our
    history near the end of the 18th century.
        Sales of the 2010 holiday ornament exceeded 29,000 ornaments, of
    which more than 5,700 were personalized with engravings designed,
    proofed, and etched by Senate Gift Shop staff. This highly successful
    effort was made possible by the combined efforts of our administrative,
    engraving, and store staffs.
                    Bookmarks
        New products introduced in 2010 included bookmarks depicting images
    of flowers and ground covers that are often planted by the AOC on the
    Capitol grounds. In all, there are 11 varieties of plants depicted on
    the canvas palettes. The images on these 2  8 canvas bookmarks
    serve as a unique reminder of the ever-changing appearance of the
    Capitol flower beds, and the anticipated timely changes that regularly
    occur because of the area's seasonal weather conditions.
                    Webster Intranet Site
        The Web site continues to expand with the addition of new
    merchandise with assistance from the Senate Photography Studio. Product
    descriptions are written in house.
        The gift shop contributes an article highlighting products and
    services to each issue of the Secretary's UNUM newsletter. In turn, the
    Web site links to the electronic version of UNUM, a practice that has
    increased traffic to the Web site and may be responsible for an
    increase in the use of gift shop services by State offices.
    Projects Recently Produced and New Initiatives for 2010
                CVC
        The Senate Gift Shop continued to supply them with a wide variety
    of inventory product, offering service when needed, and advice on
    purchase order, invoice, and operational processes.
                Congressional Plate Series
        The latest 8-year, four-plate series of the 112th, 113th, 114th,
    and 115th Congress has been produced. The 112th plate is currently
    being offered for sale. The plates for each of the future Congresses
    will be made available during that respective congressional session.
    This series has once again been designed and produced by Tiffany & Co.
    The designs depict art and architecture from four of the most
    historically significant rooms in the Capitol: the Senate
    Appropriations Room, Old Senate Chamber, Old Supreme Court Chamber, and
    President's Room.
                       sos deg.historical office
        Serving as the Senate's institutional memory, the Historical Office
    collects and provides information on important events, precedents,
    dates, statistics, and historical comparisons of current and past
    Senate activities for use by Members and staff, the media, scholars,
    and the general public. The Office staff advises Senators, officers,
    and committees on cost-effective disposition of their noncurrent office
    files and assists researchers in identifying Senate-related source
    materials. The historians keep extensive biographical, bibliographical,
    photographic, and archival information on the more than 1,900 former
    and current Senators. The staff edits for publication historically
    significant transcripts and minutes of selected Senate committees and
    party organizations, and conducts oral history interviews with key
    Senate staff. The photo historian maintains a collection of
    approximately 40,000 still pictures that includes photographs and
    illustrations of Senate committees and nearly all former Senators. The
    Office staff develops and maintains all historical material on the
    Senate Web site, Senate.gov.
    Editorial Projects
                Sesquicentennial of the Civil War
        The Historical Office has engaged in a number of projects to
    commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Senate's role in the Civil
    War. Historians have teamed with the Senate Curator to produce an
    exhibit in the Capitol on ``The Senate's Civil War'', and have assisted
    the staff of the CVC in selecting items for display related to the
    Civil War and Reconstruction. The historians have also prepared a
    booklet for distribution to remind Americans of the legislative and
    investigatory component of a story that is more often presented from a
    military or Presidential perspective. These projects will be
    complemented by online features on the Senate's Civil War experience.
    Revised Kennedy Caucus Room Brochure
        The Senate's naming of the Russell House Office Building Caucus
    Room in memory of John F., Robert F., and Edward Kennedy prompted the
    revision and redesign of the brochure for the room. The brochure is
    often used by Senators who host meetings in the Caucus Room. In
    addition to explaining the architectural and legislative history of the
    room, the brochure includes information on the Senators Kennedy and
    their individual connections to the Caucus Room along with updated
    photographs.
    Documentary Histories of the U.S. Senate
        The Historical Office continued work on its online documentary
    history series, which presents case studies and primary-source
    documentation for all contested Senate elections, censure and expulsion
    cases, impeachment trials, and major investigations. Intended for use
    within the Senate and by the general public, these documentary
    histories are particularly valuable for teachers who seek to include
    primary-source documents in their lesson plans. This project also
    allows the Historical Office to update case studies of past events, and
    to add new case studies as needed, eliminating the need for new print
    editions of past publications, reducing costs and paper use. Three
    parts (contested elections, censures, and expulsions) of this five-
    stage project have been completed, and substantial progress was made in
    the remaining two categories. Two cases were added this year in the
    impeachment category, as well as a revised and updated summary page on
    major investigations and case studies on the Pecora banking and
    Watergate investigations. A third case study of the Civil War-era Joint
    Committee on the Conduct of the War is nearing completion as well.
    States in the Senate
        In this collaborative project, staff historians have created
    timelines and compiled selected illustrative images for each of the 50
    States. The States in the Senate will highlight persons and events in
    the State's history that relate to the U.S. Senate to be featured on
    Senate.gov, which informs Senators, staff, and constituents alike. A
    Web design for the project has been created in partnership with the GPO
    and Web Technology that provides an interactive timeline for each State
    with links to relevant documentary and visual material, along with a
    table of Senators from each class with service dates. Staff have begun
    entering the timeline data and lists of Senators, and have begun
    identifying images for each timeline.
    Administrative History of the Senate
        The associate historian continued to prepare a historical account
    of the Senate's administrative evolution since 1789. This study traces
    the development of the offices of the Secretary of the Senate and SAA,
    considers 19th and 20th century reforms that resulted in reorganization
    and professionalization of Senate staff, and looks at how the Senate's
    administrative structure has grown and diversified.
    Rules of the United States Senate, Since 1789
        In 1980, Senate parliamentarian emeritus Dr. Floyd M. Riddick, at
    the direction of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration,
    prepared a publication containing the eight codes of rules that the
    Senate adopted between 1789 and 1979. In the 1990s, the Senate
    Historical Office staff, in consultation with Dr. Riddick, developed a
    project to incorporate an important feature not contained in the 1980
    publication. Beyond simply listing the eight codes of rules, the
    Office's goal is to show how--and why--the Senate's current rules have
    evolved from earlier versions. The Senate's historian emeritus has
    continued work on this project, which will contain eight narrative
    chapters outlining key debates and reasons for significant changes.
    Appendices will include the original text of all standing rules and,
    for the first time in one publication, all changes adopted between each
    codification.
    Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, 1774-Present
        The Historical Office continues to expand and update the
    Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress as needed, including adding
    new Member biographical entries and bibliographical citations that
    incorporate recent scholarship. The Senate historians continue to work
    closely with the historical staff of the House of Representatives to
    maintain accuracy and consistency in this joint Senate-House database,
    and to promote this valuable resource among historians, teachers,
    students, and the public. Senate and House historians and technical
    staff for the House of Representatives have collaborated to plan an
    update of the online site in appearance and functionality, and have
    approved a new template and overall appearance for the Directory. The
    Senate archivist and her deputies have worked to expand and revise the
    ``Research Collections'' aspect of the database.
    Party Conference Minutes, 1965-1977
        In 1998 and 1999 the Historical Office staff edited, indexed, and
    published the Minutes of the Senate Democratic and Republican
    Conferences covering the years prior to 1964. The Historical Office is
    currently preparing a similar volume for the Democratic Conference
    including its minutes from 1965 to 1977. After January 1973, verbatim
    transcripts were prepared for each Conference meeting, considerably
    enlarging the documentation. This project has involved scanning and
    editing 2,869 pages of transcripts for 102 meetings of the Conference
    and inclusion of an index and explanatory annotations. With the
    approval of the Conference, the minutes will be published, and a
    similar editorial project will be proposed for the Republican
    Conference minutes for this time period. The office has scanned an
    additional 3,115 pages of transcripts for the 73 conferences between
    1977 and 1982, for future publication.
    Dirksen Senate Office Building Exhibits
        The remodeling of the Dirksen Senate Office Building auditorium
    into a hearing room created two large exhibit cases at its entrance.
    Working with the staff of the Senate Curator and the Senate Library,
    the Historical Office prepared exhibits that have now been installed on
    the life and career of Senator Everett M. Dirksen, Senate Republican
    leader from 1959 to 1969, and on the design and functioning of the
    office building named in his memory.
    Oral History Program
        The Historical Office staff conducts a series of oral history
    interviews to record personal recollections of various Senate careers.
    Interviews were conducted with former Senator Roland W. Burris; Richard
    Ahrenberg, who served on the staffs of Senators Paul Tsongas, George
    Mitchell, and Carl Levin; Richard Baker, the Senate's Historian
    Emeritus; Eliza Letchworth, former Republican Secretary; Charles
    Ludlam, a former staff member for Senators James Abourezk and Joseph I.
    Lieberman; and James Zigler, former Senate SAA. The office also
    conducted an interview with Martin Charboneau and Mikhaila Fogel, the
    pages who volunteered to stay behind and serve during the last weeks of
    debate on the healthcare bill in December 2009. The office has also
    continued to seek and conduct interviews with current and former Senate
    spouses, and expanded on its collection of interviews highlighting the
    role of women on Capitol Hill. The complete transcripts of 30
    interviews conducted since the 1970s have been posted on Senate.gov.
    That site features a different oral history interview series each
    month, including digital audio-clips along with the interview
    transcripts. The Historical Office has worked with the National
    Archives to digitize past oral history interviews, which had been
    archived on magnetic tape, for preservation purposes. Digitization also
    allows for inclusion of short audio segments on Senate.gov. For Unum,
    the Secretary of the Senate's newsletter, the staff has created a
    regular series entitled ``Senate Voices'', which includes excerpts from
    the oral histories with a contextual introduction.
    Member Services
                Educational Outreach
        The historian and associate historian delivered a series of
    ``Senate Historical Minutes'' at the weekly Democratic and Republican
    Conference luncheons. These ``minutes'' highlighted significant events
    and personalities associated with the Senate's institutional
    development. Many of them are now included on Senate.gov as
    ``Historical Minute Essays.'' The assistant historian advised the
    congressionally mandated 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War
    Commemoration group of notable Senate accomplishments during the
    Vietnam War era to be included in national commemorative event
    planning.
                Members' Records Management and Disposition Assistance
        The Senate archivist held meetings with staff of Members who had
    announced their retirement to discuss schedules for closing and to
    ascertain specific archiving needs. These meetings emphasized planning
    for the preservation of permanently valuable records, particularly
    electronic records and selecting a home State repository with necessary
    preservation resources. Information and insights derived from these
    meetings has been incorporated into an ``archives toolkit'', providing
    guidance for offices opening in the 112th Congress. Of the 16 Senators
    who left office, 15 designated an archival repository. The archivist
    provided extensive assistance to the staff of the late Senator Robert
    C. Byrd to ensure the preservation of 1,500 cubic feet of records
    documenting his entire Senate career. These records have been
    transferred to the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at
    Shepherd University. The archivist revised the Handbook for Closing a
    Senator's Office and created an office closing timeline. The archiving
    ``Quick Cards'' available on the Secretary's Webster site were updated
    and augmented by a fourth card on social media communications
    archiving. The number of Senators who participated in Facebook, You
    Tube, Twitter, and other Web 2.0 sites in the 111th Congress was
    significant, and the Historical Office took the initiative to provide
    guidance for archiving aspects of these online records.
        A series of brown-bag lunch discussions took place for archivists
    in Senate committees and Senators' personal staffs, focusing on records
    management, storage and electronic records. A ``Coffee with the
    Archivist'' of the United States also highlighted electronic records
    preservation. Informal meetings of Capitol Hill Archivists and Records
    Managers (CHARM) focused on description standards, electronic records,
    bibliographic reports, and briefings at the Center for Legislative
    Archives. A new initiative resulting from the CHARM meetings was the
    series of staff exit interviews conducted by Senator Byron L. Dorgan's
    archivist. These were edited by the Historical Office and then shared
    with the rest of the Senate's archival community. A committee staff
    interview form has been developed and is being adopted by committee
    archivists and systems administrators, particularly because of the
    context it provides to staff electronic files.
        The Archivists' Listserv continues to be an effective means of
    updating archival staff about records management and historical topics.
    The Senate archivist worked with all of the repositories receiving
    senatorial collections to ensure the adequacy of documentation and the
    transfer of records with adequate finding aids, helping to lower costs
    for the receiving repositories. The archivist presented an in-depth
    records management seminar for Senate offices at the Modern Archives
    Institute, which is now available for Senate staff on demand. The
    archivist presented a paper on the significance and role of the
    Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress at the Mid-Atlantic
    Regional Archives Conference.
                Committee Records Management and Disposition Assistance
        The Senate archivist provided each Senate committee with staff
    briefings, guidance on preservation of information in electronic
    systems, and instructions for the transfer of permanently valuable
    records to the National Archives' Center for Legislative Archives. A
    survey of the committees' electronic archiving revealed that almost all
    committees have voluminous electronic record backlogs requiring review.
    The backlogs fall into three categories:
      --files of committee staff that have departed the committee;
      --files of share drives; and
      --accumulated email.
        There is a growing gap between the documentary quality of the
    records being archived from committees that have archivists as opposed
    to those without archivists. The archivist and deputy archivist have
    been compiling specific reports documenting this discrepancy. They
    distribute information on best practices for managing electronic
    records and have encouraged committees to hire professional archivists
    especially to focus on electronic archiving. There are now eight
    committee archivists on six committees (two committees have separate
    Democratic and Republican archivists.)
        The archivist has been working with the Center for Legislative
    Archives information technology specialists to improve Senate
    infrastructure to facilitate the regular archiving of electronic
    records. This will establish a system to allow the Senate to transfer
    records in electronic form, eliminating the need for printing such
    documentation. The infrastructure upgrade will also permit the Center
    for Legislative Archives Holdings Management System to document the
    loan of records back to the Senate more thoroughly through the use of
    bar codes.
        The archivist and deputy archivist are appointed members of the
    Next Generation Finding Aid Task Force established by the Advisory
    Committee on the Records of Congress to develop criteria to improve the
    finding aids for the Senate's archival records. They provided
    information and helped edit the first draft of the Report presented to
    the Advisory Committee. They anticipate that the Task Force will
    recommend adoption of the archivists toolkit as a system to manage
    record transfers, and are prepared to mediate, oversee, and support
    transfer documentation in this new application.
        Over the past year, the Senate archivist oversaw the transfer to
    the Archives of 568 accessions of Senate records totaling 1,638.5 cubic
    feet of textual records and 627.28 gigabytes of electronic records. The
    archivist and deputy archivists responded to 203 requests for loans of
    archived records back to committees, totaling 1,028 boxes.
        To further assist committee clerks, the archivists developed a new
    archives transfer form that facilitates searches in older archived
    records and brings Senate descriptive practices in line with archival
    best practices. Enhanced description has resulted in greatly increased
    accessibility of the records. Three basic archiving quick cards for
    committees were posted to the Secretary's site and are periodically
    updated. The cards supplement the Guidelines for Committee Staff
    pamphlet and accompany a records-preservation PowerPoint briefing also
    posted on the site. While this material has helped communicate the
    importance of recordkeeping to committee staff, it does not replace the
    effectiveness of a trained archivist on each committee staff.
        A project is underway to scan committee record transfer sheets to
    the National Archives, dating from 1982 through 2004, into the OnBase
    document management system supported by the SAA. To date, records of 12
    committees have been processed and updates are underway. The Center for
    Legislative Archives has received this information on CD-ROM both as a
    security measure and to enhance access to the records as they become
    open for research
    Advisory Committee on the Records of Congress
        This 11-member permanent committee, established in 1990 by Public
    Law 101-509, meets semiannually to advise the Senate, the House of
    Representatives, and the Archivist of the United States on the
    management and preservation of the records of the Congress. Its
    membership representing the Senate includes the Secretary of the
    Senate, who chaired the panel during the 110th Congress; the Senate
    historian; and appointees of the secretary and the majority and
    minority leaders. The Historical Office furnishes support services for
    the advisory committee's regular meetings. Following the Senate
    historian's participation in a meeting of the Public Interest
    Declassification Board in July that focused on declassification of the
    older records of the Congress, the Historical Office sent a request to
    the Center to proceed with a systematic review of classified Senate
    records more than 25 years old. As a result, the National
    Declassification Center will begin a preliminary review and analysis of
    declassification issues of the approximately 650 feet (1,625,000 pages)
    of classified records that are more than 25 years old. Records of
    highest anticipated research use will be given priority. The Historical
    Office also was given the opportunity to comment on the National
    Archives Reorganization Plan as it will affect Senate records,
    encouraging the Archives to provide congressional records with
    administrative support appropriate to the size of its holdings.
    Educational Outreach
        The Historical Office's correspondence with the general public has
    increasingly taken place through Senate.gov. The historians maintain
    and frequently update the Web site with timely reference and historical
    information, and each month select related material to be featured on
    the site. During the past year, the Office responded to more than 1,500
    inquiries from the public, the news media, students, family
    genealogists, congressional staffers, and academics, through the public
    email address listed on Senate.gov. The diverse nature of their
    questions reflected varying levels of interest in Senate operations,
    institutional history, and former Members.
        Working with the Web team, the historians have added to Senate.gov
    such items as featured biographies, documentary histories, photo
    exhibits, reference material, and additional oral history transcripts.
        In preparation for the upcoming Civil War sesquicentennial, the
    historians and staff have and continue to collaborate with the Web team
    to create new online features exploring the role the U.S. Senate during
    this national crisis, including an annotated time line of Senate-
    related events, profiles of key Senators, landmark legislation of the
    era, discussions of the constitutional crisis of secession, and a
    documentary history of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War.
    As the national commemoration of the war continues from 2011 to 2015,
    these and additional features will be presented in a timely manner.
        Staff presented seminars on the general history of the Senate,
    Senate committees, female Senators, Senate Floor leadership, relations
    between the press and the Senate, the U.S. Constitution, and the
    history of Senate impeachment trials. The historians also participated
    in Senate staff seminars and Members' office retreats, and conducted
    dozens of briefings for specially scheduled groups. As part of the
    orientation program for newly elected Senators, the historian delivered
    an address on the historical evolution of the Senate, and joined the
    associate historian in performing tours of the Senate Chamber and other
    historic spaces of the Capitol. The historian also spoke at the
    Senate's Constitution Day Program on the resources for researching
    Senate history. The associate and assistant historian met with various
    groups of teachers and students from around the Nation to aid in
    coordinating classroom activities to promote a better understanding of
    the Congress and its legislative duties, as well as working with
    research fellows and visiting scholars.
    Photographic Collections
        The Senate photo historian continued to ensure history-focused
    photographic coverage of the contemporary Senate by photographing
    Senate committees, collecting formal photo portraits of new Senators,
    and capturing significant Senate events in cooperation with the Senate
    Photographic Studio. She continued to provide timely photographic
    reference service by phone and email, while cataloging, digitizing,
    relocating, and expanding the Office's 40,000-item image collection.
    She assisted several Senate offices in creating collages of all the
    Senators who previously served in that seat.
        The photo historian assisted with the development of the Civil War
    exhibit in the Capitol, by providing images from the Historical Office
    collection and obtaining images from other repositories. She also
    provided images for the two new exhibit cases in Dirksen Senate Office
    Building outside of the auditorium. She collaborated with the
    historical editor to design and publish the Kennedy Caucus Room
    brochure.
        The photo historian worked closely with the Senate Photographic
    Studio during the transition to a new image browser, serving as a test
    office for the new system. She facilitated the transfer of historical
    maps found in the Russell Senate Office Building attic to the LOC
    Geography and Maps Division.
        As the founder of CHARM, an informal group of Senate archivists,
    the photo historian planned numerous tours and professional development
    events for committee and Member archivists.
    COOP Planning
        As the Historical Office's COOP Action Officer and Emergency
    Coordinator, the photo historian continued to update the Office's COOP
    plan in the Living Disaster Recovery Planning System. She made regular
    back-ups of the office's vital electronic records to store off-site in
    a secure environment. She trained new staff members and interns in the
    Office's emergency evacuation procedures.
    CVC
        The historians supplied information and guidance to the staff of
    the CVC related to the educational component of the exhibition gallery.
    They have participated in the training program for staff-led tours, and
    provided text, images, and general editorial review for a new Web-based
    training program for staff and tour guides. They made regular
    presentations on the history of the Senate in training seminars for
    Senate staff and interns, and gave morning ``briefings'' to the Capitol
    Guide Service. They provided ``exhibit talks'' in the CVC, contributed
    to the training of visitor assistants who guide visitors through the
    exhibition gallery, worked with exhibit staff to plan rotations of
    documents and images, and advised the CVC staff on its educational
    outreach programs.

                        sos deg.HUMAN RESOURCES

        The Office of Human Resources was established in June 1995 by the
    Secretary as a result of the CAA. The office focuses on developing and
    implementing human resources policies, procedures, and programs for the
    Office of the Secretary of the Senate that fulfill the legal
    requirements of the workplace and complement the organization's
    strategic goals and values.
        These responsibilities include recruiting and staffing; providing
    guidance and advice to managers and staff; training; performance
    management; job analysis; compensation planning, design, and
    administration; leave administration; records management; maintaining
    the employee handbooks and manuals; internal grievance procedures;
    employee relations and services; and organizational planning and
    development.
        The Human Resources staff administers the following programs for
    the Secretary's employees: the Public Transportation Subsidy program,
    Student Loan Repayment Program, Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
    program, parking allocations, and the summer intern program that offers
    college and other postgraduate students the opportunity to gain
    valuable skills and experience in a variety of Senate support offices.
    Human Resources staff has completed migration of eligible commuters to
    the Smart Benefits Program, which is operated by the Washington
    Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
    Recruitment and Retention of Staff
        Human Resources staff have the ongoing task of advertising new
    vacancies or positions, screening applicants, interviewing candidates,
    and assisting with all phases of the hiring process. Human Resources
    staff coordinate with the SAA Human Resources Department to post all
    SAA and Secretary vacancies on the Senate Intranet, Webster, so that
    the larger Senate community may access the posting from their own
    offices. In an effort to reach a larger and more diverse applicant
    pool, the department uses multiple posting forums to reach potential
    applicants for employment. As a result, the Human Resources Department
    processed more than 3,000 applications for vacancies in the Secretary's
    Office, including review of applications, coordinating scheduling of
    candidates for interview, sending out notices to both successful and
    unsuccessful candidates, and finalizing new hire paperwork. All new
    hires also receive orientation from the Human Resources staff when they
    come on board.
    Training
        In conjunction with the Senate Chief Counsel for Employment, staff
    continue to develop and deliver training for department heads and
    staff. Training topics include sexual harassment, interviewing skills,
    FMLA administration, and an overview of the CAA. Human Resources staff
    also works with different department employees on topics specific to
    their group in outreach efforts to enhance teamwork in the workplace.
    Interns and Fellows
        Human Resources staff manage the Secretary's internship program.
    From posting vacancies, conducting needs analyses, communicating,
    screening, placing and following up with all interns, the staff keeps a
    close connection with these program participants in an effort to make
    the internship most beneficial to them and the organization.
    DOD's Operation Warfighter (OWF) Program
        In December 2010, Human Resources on behalf of the Secretary
    received approval to host Wounded Warriors from the OWF program. The
    unpaid internship program is open to all wounded and ill servicemembers
    assigned to a Military Treatment Facility, an Army Warrior Transition
    Unit, the USMC Wounded Warrior Regiment, the Air Force Wounded Warrior
    Program, or the Navy Safe Harbor Program. The program positively
    impacts the recuperation process, and provides meaningful activity
    outside of the hospital environment that positively impacts wellness.
    Combined Federal Campaign (CFC)
        The office has again taken an active role in the CFC for the Senate
    community at-large. The office staff serve as co-directors of the
    program. The staff participates in kick-off meetings, identifies key
    workers in each office, and disseminates and collects necessary
    information and paperwork.

                      sos deg.INFORMATION SYSTEMS

        The staff of the department of Information Systems provides
    technical hardware and software support for the office of the Secretary
    of the Senate (SecSen). Information Systems staff also interface
    closely with the application and network development groups within the
    SAA, GPO, and outside vendors on technical issues and joint projects.
    The department provides computer-related support for all local area
    network (LAN) servers within the Office of the Secretary of the Senate.
    Information Systems staff provide direct application support for all
    software installed workstations, initiate and guide new technologies,
    and implement next-generation hardware and software solutions.
    Mission Evaluation
        The primary mission of the Information Systems department is to
    continue to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction and
    computer support for the office of Secretary of the Senate. Emphasis is
    placed on creating and transferring legislative records to outside
    departments and agencies, fulfilling Disbursing Office financial
    responsibilities to the Member offices, and complying with office
    mandated and statutory obligations.

                Fiscal Year 2010 Technology Initiative Summary
        The department technology initiatives concentrated in four specific
    areas:
      --Improvements in work flow process efficiency;
      --Deployment of improved hardware and software technologies;
      --Business continuity planning and disaster recovery improvements;
            and
      --Network perimeter and end point security awareness.
                Operate More Efficiently
        Replaced all computer workstation hardware in the Capitol; Hart,
    Dirksen, and Russell Senate Office Buildings; and Webster Hall
    locations. Developed, tested, and installed application software for
    the Senate Library, Curator, Historian, Human Resources,
    Interparliamentary Services, Public Records, Captioning, LIS Project
    Office, and Page School staff locations.
        Completed second phase of network printer hardware replacement
    program by replacing all network printers in 21 departments and offsite
    locations with improved high-speed models that reduce energy use up to
    50 percent with instant-on technology.
        Replaced all BlackBerry device hardware for Secretary of the Senate
    staff (73 units) and applied soft token virtual private network access
    to the Senate network for all device users.
        Purchased and installed the Disbursing Office GRB server hardware.
        Purchased and installed server and application to remotely deploy
    software updates to all Disbursing workstation hardware.
                Deployment of Improved Hardware and Software Upgrades
        Legislative Offices.--Completed 18 major LIS software upgrades and
    installed the updated LIS application software in all legislative clerk
    offices, ACFs, and offsite home laptop locations. Virtualized the LIS
    applications for the Senate Library staff which streamlined the
    availability of application for LIS users.
        Added network array storage portable servers at the ACF. This
    solution provides a nightly scheduled backup of Secretary of the Senate
    workstation software to the Secretary of the Senate Emergency
    Operations Centers (EOC).
        Virtualized the workflow process in the Office of Public Records
    (OPR) providing high availability to their computer desktops for OPR
    staff when they are not at their normal desktop office locations.
    Retired a dedicated AT&T fiber link between the OPR and the Federal
    Elections Commission (FEC). Worked with the SAA Network Engineering
    staff to implement a replacement VLAN connection to the FEC which is
    more secure and can be expanded to alternate locations if needed.
        Upgraded legislative staff with improved laptop hardware for a more
    streamlined and secure connection to the Senate network.
        Created a virtualized and encrypted software solution for the
    Senate Enrolling Clerk in order to process legislation when located
    offsite. Virtualization of mission critical workstation applications
    lowers the support time and cost required to keep offsite laptops
    updated with current software revisions. It also provides a more
    efficient process to migrate existing applications to numerous systems,
    making it available to a wider range of key personnel who require the
    application access.
        Upgraded and migrated BlackBerry device users to the BlackBerry
    Exchange Server Version 5.0 Server solution. Information System support
    staff now has a process to monitor the BlackBerry device operation and
    provide a higher level of remote BlackBerry support.
        Added additional staff with secure access to the Senate network
    through the Senate Web portal with Passface account access. Presently
    119 of 169 personnel assigned to the Secretary of the Senate's hybrid
    enterprise (70 percent) have some form of secure remote access to
    Senate network resources.
        Developed a standardized software template and replaced all
    Disbursing Office laptops.
        Worked with the Senate library staff and the SAA Technology
    Development staff to integrate an incident reporting software
    application for Library staff use. This issue tracker application
    resides on a Secretary of the Senate server and documents the support
    issues for the SIS program.
    Business Continuity Planning and Disaster Recovery Improvements
        Secure remote access to essential applications and information is
    integral to pandemic preparedness and business continuity initiatives.
    By scaling existing technologies, and integrating new hardware
    solutions, the overall level of H1N1 planning preparedness was
    dramatically elevated in the each office. This level of proactive
    planning significantly impacted the remote access capability and
    provided staff the needed access to the Senate network resources during
    the February 2010 blizzard.
        In the event GPO ``fails-over'' their operation at North Capitol
    Street, NW., changes to the legislative file transfer process to
    support transactions between the Secretary's office and GPO have been
    implemented. A secondary back-up (encrypted) file transfer method has
    also been implemented among GPO, the Senate Office of Legislative
    Counsel, and the office of the Secretary.
        Completed the Parliamentarian office indexing software project and
    migrated the previous process to a new hardware platform. The results
    allow a virtualized environment to index precedent information without
    purchasing a specific laptop or personal computer.
        Installed additional laptop hardware for the office of Captioning
    Services in the Capitol. This ensures that if Captioning staff is
    displaced from their location they can continue to provide content to
    the Senate Recording Studio (SRS). Successfully tested final SRS
    channel link in October 2010.
        Redesigned and enhanced the operation of Member accountability
    application used during COOP exercises by implementing a virtualized
    desktop process to run the application. Integrating this application
    with a remote desktop feature to ensure the application is always
    available for staff during a COOP event. Extended this virtual solution
    for the Secretary of the Majority and the Secretary of the Minority
    offices.
        Virtualized the OPR hardware server, office workstations, and
    scanning operation. In fiscal year 2010, completed the second phase to
    encompass both the server and client application process.
        Implemented and integrated personal computer teleconferencing
    application into the existing video teleconferencing (VTC) network.
    This provides offsite VTC to internal Senate users without the need for
    a VPN connection. Upgraded hardware products in the Office of the
    Secretary and Disbursing Office conference room locations.
    Network Perimeter and End Point Security Awareness
        In partnership the SAA Security Operations Center, installed the
    next generation Senate antivirus and firewall protection.
        Information Systems staff continue to monitor email spam filtering
    applications. Present rate of undesirable email messages average 9,000
    messages per day.
        Implemented a monthly automatic backup of critical workstation
    software applications. This process eliminates countless hours of
    attempting to clean infected systems. Additionally, these monthly
    backups can be stored at an offsite facility and serve as a tool in
    restoring workstation applications in the event of an emergency.
        Information Systems staff continue to monitor network security
    ensuring best practice information is available to all staff. Developed
    global security server policies to automatically lock computer
    terminals after 1 hour of application inactivity.
        Staff continues to manage the Alerts notification database for all
    Secretary staff. Database information is verified nightly to ensure
    email, voice, and BlackBerry PIN information is valid and will function
    during an emergency.
        After implementation of the software deployment server, Information
    Systems staff continue to maintain the inventory of all applications
    for 280 workstation installations. Information Systems now has the
    ability to review in real time which systems require application
    updates and can deploy security patches without interruption to the
    business owner.
    Ongoing and Future Projects From 2010
        As server and laptop hardware nears the end of the maintenance
    life-cycle, replace older hardware servers with virtual server
    solutions. All Active Directory server hardware was updated in fiscal
    year 2010, and wherever possible virtual solutions were implemented in
    order to provide a higher level of network resource availability,
    reduce data center hardware costs, and reduce electricity usage.
        Evaluate low-cost computing terminal emulation hardware for offsite
    and designated COOP locations.
                  sos deg.interparliamentary services
        The Office of Interparliamentary Services (IPS) is responsible for
    administrative, financial, and protocol functions for all
    interparliamentary conferences in which the Senate participates by
    statute, for interparliamentary conferences in which the Senate
    participates on an ad hoc basis, and for special delegations authorized
    by the Majority and/or Minority Leaders. The office also provides
    appropriate assistance as requested by other Senate delegations.
        The statutory interparliamentary conferences are:
      --NATO Parliamentary Assembly;
      --Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group;
      --Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group;
      --British-American Interparliamentary Group;
      --United States-Russia Interparliamentary Group;
      --United States-China Interparliamentary Group; and
      --United States-Japan Interparliamentary Group;
        In 2010, IPS staff were responsible for organizing the following
    interparliamentary conferences:
      --the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Group in China;
      --the U.S.-Russia Interparliamentary Group in the United States;
      --the Canada-U.S. Interparliamentary Group in the United States; and
      --the Mexico-U.S. Interparliamentary Group in Mexico.
        As in previous years, all foreign travel authorized by the Majority
    and Minority Leaders is arranged by the IPS staff. In addition to
    delegation trips, IPS provided assistance to individual Senators and
    staff traveling overseas. Senators and staff authorized by committees
    for foreign travel continue to call upon this office for assistance
    with passports, visas, travel arrangements, and reporting requirements.
        IPS receives and prepares for printing the quarterly consolidated
    financial reports for foreign travel from all committees in the Senate.
    In addition to preparing the quarterly reports for the Majority Leader
    and the Minority Leader, IPS staff also assist staff members of
    Senators and committees in filling out the required reports.
        IPS maintains regular contact with DOD, the Department of State and
    foreign Embassy officials. The office staff organizes visits for
    official foreign visitors and assists them in setting up meetings with
    leadership offices. The staff continues to work closely with other
    offices of the Secretary of the Senate and the SAA in arranging
    programs for foreign visitors. In addition, IPS is consulted by
    individual Senate offices on a broad range of protocol questions.
    Occasional questions come from State officials or the general public
    regarding congressional protocol.
        On behalf of the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders, IPS staff
    arrange official receptions for heads of state, heads of government,
    heads of parliaments, and parliamentary delegations. Required records
    of expenditures on behalf of foreign dignitaries under authority of
    Public Law 100-71 are maintained by IPS.
        Planning is underway for the Mexico-U.S. Interparliamentary Group,
    the U.S.-China Interparliamentary Group, and the British-American
    Parliamentary Group which will be held in the United States in 2011.
    COOP Planning
        IPS regularly reviews its COOP plan with ongoing discussions,
    updating materials kept offsite, evaluating evacuation procedures, and
    working from remote sites.

                          sos deg.LIS PROJECT

        The LIS is a mandated system (section 8 of the 1997 Legislative
    Branch Appropriations Act, 2 U.S.C. 123e) that provides desktop access
    to the content and status of legislative information and supporting
    documents. The 1997 Legislative Branch Appropriations Act (2 U.S.C.
    181) also established a program for providing the widest possible
    exchange of information among legislative branch agencies. The long-
    range goal of the LIS Project is to provide a ``comprehensive Senate
    Legislative Information System'' to capture, store, manage, and
    distribute Senate documents. Several components of the LIS have been
    implemented, and the project is currently focused on a Senate-wide
    implementation and transition to a standard system for the authoring
    and exchange of legislative documents that will greatly enhance the
    availability and re-use of legislative documents within the Senate and
    with other legislative branch agencies. The LIS Project Office manages
    the project.
    Background: LIS Augmentation Project (LISAP)
        An April 1997 joint Senate and House report recommended
    establishment of a data standards program, and in December 2000, the
    Senate Committee on Rules and Administration and the Committee on House
    Administration jointly accepted the Extensible Markup Language (XML) as
    the primary data standard to be used for the exchange of legislative
    documents and information. Following the implementation of the LIS in
    January 2000, the LIS Project Office shifted its focus to the data
    standards program and established LISAP. The overarching goal of the
    LISAP is to provide a Senate-wide implementation and transition to XML
    for the authoring and exchange of legislative documents.
        The current focus for the LISAP is the continued development and
    implementation of the XML authoring system for legislative documents
    produced by the Office of the Senate Legislative Counsel (SLC), the
    Office of the Enrolling Clerk, the Committee on Appropriations, and the
    GPO. The XML authoring application is called LEXA, an acronym for
    Legislative Editing in XML Application. LEXA replaces the DOS-based
    XyWrite software used by drafters to embed locator codes into
    legislative documents for printing. The XML tags inserted by LEXA
    provide more information about the document and can be used for
    printing, searching, and displaying a document. LEXA features many
    automated functions that provide a more efficient and consistent
    document authoring process. The LIS Project Office has worked very
    closely with the SLC, the Enrolling Clerk, and the editorial and
    printing staff of the Committee on Appropriations to create an
    application that meets the needs for legislative drafting.
    LISAP: 2010
        The LIS Project Office continued to provide support to the SLC, the
    Senate Committee on Appropriations, and the Senate Enrolling Clerk in
    their use of LEXA for drafting, engrossing, and enrolling. GPO also
    uses LEXA to complete measures for printing. Several new features and
    fixes were added in LEXA releases to make the drafting process faster,
    more efficient, and more consistent. The LIS staff trained new drafters
    and interns in the use of LEXA.
        Changes to LEXA included upgrading all users to Xmetal 5.5. Xmetal
    is the underlying software for LEXA, and the 5.5 version is Vista-
    compatible. In the latter half of 2010, the LIS Project Office began a
    project to update the underlying software, Xmetal, to version 6.0 which
    is Windows 7-compatible. The upgrade projects required extensive
    testing of LEXA on multiple operating systems including XP, Vista, and
    Windows 7. LEXA improvements included updates to the conversion from
    locator to XML and additional features for the office drafting
    appropriations bills to accommodate the different styles and formats of
    those bills. A new feature was added to create title amendments as
    separate documents, and new functionality was created to combine a list
    of titles or divisions into one document and to split a single document
    into multiple titles or divisions.
    COOP Planning
        Several procedures have been implemented to provide for COOP. All
    source code and data files are backed up nightly to a drive in the
    office, and each LIS Project Office staff member carries an encrypted
    flash drive containing the office COOP plan, documentation, and the
    most recent version of LEXA. All the software and documentation
    required to create the development environment and a LEXA end user
    environment are available in duplicate copies of the LIS Project Office
    fly-away kit. The COOP plan and the fly-away kits are updated
    frequently, and one fly-away kit is kept in an off-site location.
    Regular testing of the ability to work remotely is conducted via Senate
    laptops and personal computers to ensure that application development
    and user support can continue if access to the office is not possible.
    LISAP: 2011
        The LIS Project Office will continue to work with and support all
    the offices now using LEXA to produce legislative documents.
    Enhancements to LEXA make the process more efficient and consistent so
    that most of the legislative measures produced by those offices will be
    created as XML documents. All LEXA users will be upgraded to Xmetal
    6.0: some users on XP, some on Windows 7, and a few on Vista.
        The LIS Project Office will continue to work with the House, GPO,
    and the LOC on projects and issues that impact the legislative process
    and data standards for exchange. These groups are currently
    participating in two projects with the GPO, one to define requirements
    for replacing the Microcomp composition software and another to handle
    graphics in some legislative documents. The office will work with the
    SLC and their House counterpart office to implement new functionality
    for maintaining and printing the compilations of existing law in XML.

                            sos deg.LIBRARY

        The Senate Library provides legislative, legal, business, and
    general information services to the United States Senate. The LOC's
    collection encompasses legislative documents that date from the
    Continental Congress in 1774; current and historic executive and
    judicial branch materials; an extensive book collection on American
    politics, history, and biography; a popular collection of audiobooks;
    and a wide array of online resources. The LOC also authors content for
    three Web sites:
      --LIS.gov;
      --Senate.gov; and
      --Webster, the Senate's Intranet.
        The transition of the SIS program from the Senate SAA to the Senate
    Library continued with the transfer of contracts for news-related
    services in October 2010. Two town hall style meetings and six focus
    group sessions provided opportunities for Senate staff to provide
    direct feedback on the Senate's online research tools. The Library
    hosted an online survey in December to reach State staff and those
    unable to attend the focus group sessions. Results from the survey will
    be used to review program offerings and to target outreach and training
    efforts related to those resources.
        The LOC's creation of new Web-based content, judicious selection
    and investment in online resources, expanded outreach and training
    opportunities, and use of technology to support alternative means for
    information delivery continues to meet the Senate's increasing demand
    for information.
    Notable Achievements
        Successful outreach efforts contributed to an increase in Library
    usage in the following areas over the past year: total patron accounts
    are up 44 percent, new patron accounts are up 26 percent, and online
    book requests are up 36 percent. Loans of audiobooks increased 22
    percent and new books by 15 percent.
        A new Webster page, Nomination Hearings for Supreme Court Justices,
    provides links to full-text hearings since Louis Brandeis in 1916.
        The Library catalog now provides Senate staff with desktop access
    to more than 34,000 electronic versions of items in its collection, an
    increase of 15 percent more than 2009.
        A new table, Senate Freshmen since Direct Election (1914), was
    added to Senate.gov.
        Two well-received exhibits, one on the ``Senatorial Life of Everett
    Dirksen'' and the other on the ``Dirksen Senate Office Building'', were
    installed at the request of the Senate Committee on Rules and
    Administration in the cases flanking the entrance to the Dirksen
    auditorium (SDG-50). The exhibits were collaborative efforts with the
    Senate Curator's Office and the Senate Historical Office.
        Successful collaboration between the Library, the Office of Web
    Technology, and the Assistant SAA/CIO Office resulted in the creation
    of a completely new taxonomy for the Senate Services Directory (Red
    Book) on Webster. Online access to the Red Book will occur in early
    January 2011.
    Senate Library Inquiries, Online Book Requests, and Patron Accounts
        The increase in requests for online materials, the availability of
    new and enhanced database offerings, and the expanded availability of
    resources on the Web have dramatically increased the demand for Library
    resources. Inquiries in 2010 increased 12 percent more than 2009,
    reflecting new Web-based service promotional initiatives. These numbers
    show that Senate staff and others are using Senate.gov and Webster
    content authored by the library. Reference librarians continue to
    assist Senate staff with challenging research in areas including legal
    and public records, legislative histories, news and journal articles,
    and to find answers to questions they ``can't figure out how to
    tackle.'' \2\
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        \1\ Comment by a survey respondent in the 2011 SIS Online Survey
    Report, p. 34.

                                                                    SENATE LIBRARY INQUIRIES
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                              Web page visits                                   Change from
                              Year                              Traditional  ------------------------------------------------      Total        prior year
                                                                                  Webster           LIS         Senate.gov                     (percentage)
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    2010....................................................          26,696          88,886          19,000       2,926,712       3,061,294             +12
    2009....................................................          27,318          70,461          21,092       2,612,897       2,731,768              +8
    2008....................................................          27,283          51,048          29,468       2,429,380       2,537,179             +67
    2007....................................................          26,309          65,793          32,121       1,392,947       1,517,170             -10
    2006....................................................          31,032          80,375          20,156       1,561,138       1,692,701             +88
    2005....................................................          33,080          57,608          26,775         782,588         900,051         ( \1\ )
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Baseline.

        The Library received 666 online book requests in 2010, an increase
    of 36 percent more than the previous year. The increase can be
    attributed to the online book request form on the Library catalog, as
    well as to the online bibliographies that highlight the Library's
    collections of audiobooks, travel books, and new books. Audiobook loans
    increased by 22 percent, travel books by 25 percent, and new books by
    15 percent more than 2009 levels.

        The Library's concerted effort in 2010 to reach new patrons
    resulted in a 44 percent increase in borrowing accounts more than 2009.
    Seventy-four percent of the Library's patrons are Senate office and
    committee staff members while the remaining 26 percent of users are
    support office staff.
        Almost half of this patron base consists of new users of the
    library. A total of 999 new patrons were registered in 2010, an
    increase of 26 percent more than the number registered in 2009.
        Other activities for 2010 included setting up 274 new computer
    accounts for our patron workstations, and providing the following
    document printing and delivery services:

                     INFORMATION SERVICE SUPPORT ACTIVITIES
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Category                               Total
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Circulation:
        Document deliveries.................................           4,499
        Item loans..........................................           3,251
    Pages printed:
        Microform pages printed.............................             857
        Photocopies.........................................          71,983
                                                             ---------------
          Document delivery total...........................          80,590
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Senate Library Content Creation
                Senate.gov Web Site Content
        A new table, Senate Freshmen Since Direct Election (1914), was
    added to Senate.gov. This table counts Senate freshmen at the beginning
    of each Congress and includes appointments that occurred just before or
    after the opening of the Congress.
                Senate Webster Content
        A new page, Nomination Hearings for Supreme Court Justices, was
    launched in June in advance of scheduled confirmation hearings for
    Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. The page provides links to full-text
    hearings since Louis Brandeis in 1916. This page is tied to another
    Library-authored page, How to Find Supreme Court Nomination
    Information. The full-text hearings were also made available through
    the Library catalog, and Library staff created two new finding aids for
    JSTOR, a nonprofit service of more than 1,000 academic journals and
    other scholarly content, and appellate court briefs.
                SIS Program Content
        The Library's Digital and Instructional Resources Librarian led two
    working groups to create two new Webster pages that highlight SIS
    resources. The first group worked on a FrontPage (the SIS home page)
    redesign that includes tabbed navigation and links to more Senate-wide
    databases. The other group researched the online availability of
    newspapers in each State, which make up the State NewsWatch page. Both
    pages were created in response to feedback from Senate focus groups and
    launched at the beginning of the 112th Congress.
                Senate Library Web Site Content
        A library team revised and updated the About the Library, Using the
    library, and Borrowing Books pages on the library's Web site. These
    pages now provide staff a clearer understanding of the library
    services, policies, and collections.
                Other Digital Content
        Library staff initiated a retrospective digitization of the Senate
    Executive Calendars in response to staff requests for older editions of
    the calendar. This collaborative project between the library and the
    Senate Executive Clerk will build a complete digital collection from
    the library's bound editions and form the basis for a future online
    digital archive.
    Senate Knowledge Base
        The Senate knowledge base is an institutional repository of data to
    support the Webster site taxonomy project and Webster search
    enhancement. To date, 1,154 document records and 2,016 term records in
    the Senate knowledge base are supporting the Webster taxonomy and
    search projects. The 45 percent increase in the number of terms and 19
    percent increase in the number of documents created this year is a
    result of a restructuring of the database to support the online Senate
    Services Directory (Red Book) and reporting for ``keymatches''.
                Webster Online Services Directory (Red Book) Redesign
        The online Services Directory is a joint effort between the SAA's
    Assistant Sergeant at Arms/Chief Information Office and the Library.
    The Red Book was a printed directory (last published in November 2010)
    created by the Senate telephone operators as a finding aid for commonly
    requested numbers and services. The online Senate Services Directory is
    driven by a completely new taxonomy that is managed through the Senate
    knowledge base.
                Webster Search Enhancement
        Librarians improve Webster search results by analyzing popular
    search terms and matching them with topically relevant pages or search
    engine ``keymatches'' (which are managed through the Senate knowledge
    base). This improves the chances a searcher will find what he or she is
    looking for on Webster. During 2010, 245 ``keymatches'' were
    established and 240 edits were made to update Web page links.
    Instruction and Outreach Programs
        Reference librarians conduct a wide variety of classes and tours
    for Senate staff including, Insider's Guide to Webster, LIS Savvy,
    Research Tools on Your Desktop, Services of the Senate Library, and Got
    Questions? In 2010, 91 classes and tours were offered, with a total of
    379 Senate staff participating. Classes and tours are held frequently
    to allow librarians to interact with smaller groups and create a more
    customized learning experience for the attendees.
        LOC, Office of Web Technology, and the Joint Office of Education
    and Training collaborated on redesigning the LOC class registration
    page. The redesign offers a more streamlined registration process, has
    reduced posting errors, and has increased the opportunities for the
    reference team to market classes to Senate staff.
        LOC gave numerous tours to Senate groups and outside library
    professionals, including each semester's Senate Page School class,
    librarians from the Supreme Court Library and the National Defense
    University, library school students, and 18 separate groups of summer
    interns from Senate offices. The LOC hosted a university library school
    student on a semester-long practicum. The LOC also participated in the
    Senate Services Fair, reaching out to 91 attendees.
        In an effort reach Senate staff more directly, an email signatures
    pilot program was launched to highlight library services, resources,
    training opportunities, and the SIS online survey. The email signatures
    link to a featured resource and change monthly to coordinate with the
    Library's overall promotional program. Other promotional efforts
    include several Webster announcements and flyers with monthly LOC and
    SIS vendor training course offerings.
        Two new reading lists were created to highlight books in the LOC's
    collection: The Civil War in Books and Great Reads for New Senate
    Staff. Both bibliographies are available on Webster and are highlighted
    with display cases and Web promotional announcements. The Civil War in
    Books is the LOC's contribution to the commemoration of the
    sesquicentennial of the start of the Civil War, and the Great Reads
    list is designed to reach new Senate staff who want to broaden their
    knowledge of Senate history and their understanding of legislative
    process and procedure.
    Collection Development
                Audiobooks
        The Library acquired 35 new audio book titles in 2010, bringing the
    total number to 125 titles. Designed to assist users with diverse
    needs, including those who may be visually challenged, the program
    remains popular with patrons whose 797 loans were equivalent to
    circulating each item in the collection six times over. An online
    bibliography on Webster contains links to the catalog and the online
    book request form.
                New Digital Resources
        The LOC worked with LexisNexis and Westlaw to remove the login
    prompt and provide direct Senate-wide access to title-level database
    search pages through its Serials Solutions A-Z electronic journals list
    on Webster. A tangible result of these efforts to improve utility saw
    overall searches increase 19 percent to 5,524 and a 60 percent increase
    in the use of all online resources indexed over the same period last
    year. Content was updated to include 43 new databases that result from
    changes in vendor offerings.
        In 2010, the library began offering Senate-wide access to these e-
    books, all published by Congressional Quarterly:
      --Guide to Congress;
      --Guide to the Presidency;
      --Guide to U.S. Elections;
      --Landmark Legislation, 1774-2002; and
      --Major Acts of Congress.
        The Library began offering Senate-wide access to a legislative
    histories database on the LexisNexis congressional platform. The
    legislative histories database provides information on all hearings and
    reports associated with a law and provides direct links to the full
    text of these congressional documents.
        Library reference services were enhanced through the acquisition of
    Federal News Service transcripts and JSTOR archival journal content.
    These resources expand the range of questions that reference librarians
    can answer.
    Government Documents
        As a participant in GPO's Federal Depository Library Program, the
    Library receives selected categories of legislative, executive, and
    judicial branch publications. The library received 10,078 government
    publications in 2010. In response to the trend of issuing government
    documents in electronic format, 5,505 links were added to the library
    catalog, bringing the total number to 34,443, an increase of 15 percent
    more than last year. The links provide Senate staff desktop access to
    the full text of each document.

                               ACQUISITIONS, 2010
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                            Category                               Total
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Congressional documents.................................           7,790
    Executive and judicial branch publications..............           2,288
    Books (including audiobooks and e-books)................             761
    Electronic links........................................           5,505
                                                             ---------------
          Total acquisitions................................          16,344
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Legislative Validation
        The Library's Legislative Validation Clerk verifies and edits the
    accuracy and consistency of data and legislative information published
    by Secretary of the Senate staff in the LIS, the DMS, the Congressional
    Record, Senate.gov, and Webster. The clerk's work also requires the
    verification of selected Congressional Record Index entries (print and
    electronic) and includes comparing electronic entries made by
    legislative staff or data entry clerks from various agencies with the
    printed Congressional Record Index and notifying the offices of
    discrepancies.
        Between January and December 2010, the Legislative Validation Clerk
    submitted 248 corrections out of hundreds of thousands of verified
    legislative actions that took place during the year.

                 LEGISLATIVE VALIDATION CLERK CORRECTIONS, 2010
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                             Office                              Submitted
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Bill, Enrolling, Executive, Journal, and Legislative                  88
     Clerks.................................................
    Reporters of Debates, Morning Business Editor, and Daily             109
     Digest.................................................
    GPO and LOC--LIS........................................              51
                                                             ---------------
          Total, corrections................................             248
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Cataloging
        The Library's cataloging staff produces and maintains a catalog of
    more than 213,000 bibliographic items. During 2010, they added 3,736
    new titles to the catalog and performed 23,839 record maintenance and
    enhancement activities. New materials are in large part made up of
    congressional materials that are cataloged and made available to staff
    and patrons the same day. The 45 percent decrease in new titles
    cataloged from the previous year can be attributed to a decrease in the
    number of retrospective materials cataloged and an increased attention
    to catalog maintenance and enhancement activities, such as correcting
    subjects and names that have become obsolete and retrospectively adding
    full-text content and book jacket images to existing records.
        Catalogers' time and skills at categorizing and describing content
    are increasingly in demand for taxonomy-related projects designed to
    enhance Webster, including creating the records that drive
    functionality in the new online Red Book Senate Services Directory and
    analyzing logs of unsuccessful searches to create ``keymatches'' that
    target Webster search results.
        Cataloging staff participated in a nationwide project, coordinated
    by the LOC, to create a set of test records for evaluating new
    cataloging rules, called Resource Description and Access (RDA), that
    are slated for possible implementation in 2011. After receiving in-
    house training, catalogers contributed 39 RDA test records.
        Catalogers created 553 bibliographic records for Senate hearings
    not yet printed from information in the Congressional Record Daily
    Digest and the combined hearings schedule on Webster. This includes
    field hearings that are not listed in the Daily Digest. These records
    provide preliminary access for Senate staff and remain in the catalog
    until the printed hearing is received and cataloged.
        The catalog is updated nightly to ensure that Senate staff will
    retrieve accurate and current information on Library holdings. The
    addition of 538 book jacket images in 2010, an increase of 79 percent,
    enhanced the catalog's visual appeal.
    Library Automation
        The Library worked with the Information Systems Office to develop
    and deploy a new updated workstation template for the Library. For the
    first time, the new workstations made use of virtual access to
    frequently updated applications, eliminating conflicts between
    applications, reducing required workstation maintenance, and minimizing
    staff disruption.
        A server-level upgrade of the integrated library system software
    used to maintain our online catalog was completed, and a new Web-based
    interface for generating reports from the system was implemented. The
    new system takes advantage of enhancements in the catalog database and
    offers new reporting formats.
        A new virtual server was implemented to house the Senate knowledge
    base. The database software was installed in December in preparation
    for the migration of the database. The virtual server provides
    enterprise-level data backup and replaces obsolete hardware. The
    Information Systems Office provides maintenance support for the virtual
    server and remote management tools for use by Library staff.
        The Library and the Information Systems Office worked with SAA
    staff to configure and test an off-the-shelf application to log, track,
    and route incoming SIS support requests. New processes and procedures
    were also established to monitor email and telephone requests and
    establish data entry and statistical requirements.
    Preservation, Binding, and Collection Maintenance
        Technical Services staff continued to participate in book repair
    training sessions led by the Director of the Office of Conservation and
    Preservation. Trainees repaired 330 volumes, an increase of 74 percent
    from 2009, making significant progress in the preservation of the
    library's bound book collection.
        The library continues to preserve and protect rare and fragile
    print materials in its collections using commercial binding services
    procured through GPO. In 2010, a total of 456 volumes were sent out for
    binding, and 378 volumes were completed, with excellent results.
    Budget
        Budget negotiations with database vendors resulted in flat or
    reduced pricing for online research services and subscriptions. Budget
    savings from price reductions in 2010 online research services and
    subscriptions totaled $38,077 over the next 3 years. After 13 years of
    budget monitoring, savings total $149,013. This continual review of
    purchases eliminates materials not meeting the Senate's current
    information needs. This oversight is also critical in offsetting cost
    increases for core materials and for acquiring new materials.
    Special Projects
                Unum, Newsletter of the Office of the Secretary of the
                        Senate
        Unum, the Secretary's quarterly newsletter, has been produced by
    Senate Library staff since October 1997 and is distributed throughout
    the Senate and to former staff and Senators. It serves as an historical
    record of accomplishments, events, and personnel news in the Office of
    the Secretary of the Senate. Highlights from the 2010 Unum issues
    include articles written by department interns on the history of the
    August recess, the State of the Union dinner hosted by the Secretary of
    the Senate; a feature on the slave labor plaque installed in the
    Capitol; a piece on the Curator's ``Rumors'' Web site; two articles
    about archiving Senate records by Senate Archivist Karen Paul; a
    feature about the 150th anniversary of the Civil War from a
    congressional viewpoint; and the continuation of the ``Senate Voices''
    series prepared by the Historical Office that contains excerpts of oral
    histories of former staffers.
    National Library Week
        David O. Stewart, author of Impeached. The Trial of President
    Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln's Legacy, was the featured
    speaker at the Library's 12th annual book talk in honor of National
    Library Week.
    Display Cases
        Two well-received displays, one on the ``Senatorial Life of Everett
    Dirksen'' and the other on the ``Dirksen Senate Office Building'', were
    installed at the request of the Senate Rules Committee in the cases
    flanking the entrance to the Dirksen auditorium (SDG-50) in
    collaboration with the Senate Curator's Office and the Senate
    Historical Office. Hallway display cases outside the LOC continue to
    educate staff and visitors alike while highlighting the LOC's
    collections. Display cases featured this year include:
      --Civil War Capitol;
      --Civil War in Books;
      --Kids Books on Political Pets;
      --Great Reads for New Staff; and
      --History Lives at Your Library, a display highlighting African-
            American contributions to government, aviation, and medicine.
        The Great Reads for New Staff reading list has proved especially
    popular with staff and circulation of the books on the list
    skyrocketed. The Civil War in Books and the Civil War Capitol display
    are part of the LOC's commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the
    start of the Civil War.
    Cooperative Projects
        Hearing URL data from the Library catalog is exported weekly to
    provide LIS and THOMAS with full-text links to Senate hearings. The
    library contributed 1,051 new Senate hearing links to the LIS database
    during 2010, a 50 percent increase more than 2009.
        The Library's Cataloging Supervisor completed work with Joint
    Committee on Taxation staff on a project to supply bibliographic
    records for a set of committee documents submitted for scanning at the
    Federal Scanning Center at LOC. The Committee provided the LOC with
    printed versions of any documents in the set not already in our
    collection. In 2010, a total of 412 new titles were added to the LOC's
    catalog as a result of this project.
    Major Library Goals for 2011
        Complete procurement of Senate-wide online research services for
    fiscal year 2012.
        Create a team to evaluate Library course offerings and explore
    opportunities to contribute to the Office of Education and Training's
    task-based curriculum tracks. Provide a unified presentation of Library
    and SIS vendor-sponsored training on FrontPage.
        Complete transition of the Red Book Services Directory from pilot
    project to production service. Continue to develop new entries for the
    alphabetical organization display.
        Create an outreach committee to coordinate content, methods, and
    dissemination of targeted service and promotional offerings to reach
    new Senate offices and State staff.
        Task a working group with review and enhancement of SIS custom user
    interface for LexisNexis.
        Continue to work with SIS program vendors to make additional news-
    related content available through Senate NewsWatch and the InfoViewer
    product.
        Provide cataloging staff training in preparation for the possible
    implementation of new cataloging rules, called Resource Description and
    Access (RDA), by LOC and other libraries worldwide.

                                                       SENATE LIBRARY ACQUISITIONS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2010
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                   Books         Government documents          Congressional publications
                                                          ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                         Reports/    Total
                                                            Ordered    Received    Paper      Fiche     Hearings    Prints     Bylaws      Docs
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    January..............................................         22         61        120         21        307         10        113        157        789
    February.............................................          7         30        109         64        219          9         77        123        631
    March................................................         33         67        145        126        455         22        165        361      1,341
                                                          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          1st Quarter....................................         62        158        374        211        981         41        355        641      2,761
                                                          ==================================================================================================
    April................................................         25         73        152         70        334         16         94        120        859
    May..................................................         26         62         35         90        255         17        155        277        891
    June.................................................         20        105        171        129        263          8        105        167        948
                                                          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          2nd Quarter....................................         71        240        358        289        852         41        354        564      2,698
                                                          ==================================================================================================
    July.................................................         23         73         97         32        343         12        113        249        919
    August...............................................         16         42        237          7        304         10         70        403      1,073
    September............................................         82         52        174         60        184          4         76        205        755
                                                          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          3rd Quarter....................................        121        167        508         99        831         26        259        857      2,747
                                                          ==================================================================================================
    October..............................................         22        102         85         42        334          3         54        372        992
    November.............................................         15         63         39         15        357         11         96        100        681
    December.............................................          8         31        225         43        364         13         92        192        960
                                                          --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          4th Quarter....................................         45        196        349        100      1,055         27        242        664      2,633
                                                          ==================================================================================================
    2010 Total...........................................        299        761      1,589        699      3,719        135      1,210      2,726     10,839
                                                          ==================================================================================================
    2009 Total...........................................        314        831      1,653        464      3,660        204      1,162      2,540     10,514
                                                          ==================================================================================================
    Percentage change....................................      -4.78      -8.42      -3.87     +50.65      +1.61     -33.82      +4.13      +7.32      +3.09
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                   SENATE LIBRARY CATALOGING STATISTICS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2010
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      Bibliographic records cataloged
                                                   S.    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                Hearing           Books               Government documents           Congressional publications      Total
                                                numbers  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  records
                                                added to                                                                                  Docs./   cataloged
                                                  LIS       Paper    Audio/ E-    Paper      Fiche    Electronic   Hearings    Prints     Pubs./
                                                                       Books                                                             Reports
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    January..................................         36         26          4          3  .........          17        222         26         67        365
    February.................................         25         13  .........  .........  .........          16        131         17         57        234
    March....................................         28         17          1          3  .........           9        243          7        131        411
                                              --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          1st Quarter........................         89         56          5          6  .........          42        596         50        255      1,010
                                              ==============================================================================================================
    April....................................         34         29          7          8  .........           8         75  .........         62        189
    May......................................         17         24  .........         10  .........          10        127          8        206        385
    June.....................................         73         22          1          4  .........           7        116          6        104        260
                                              --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          2nd Quarter........................        124         75          8         22  .........          25        318         14        372        834
                                              ==============================================================================================================
    July.....................................          9         20          3  .........  .........          13        200          4         97        337
    August...................................         17         18          2          2  .........           8        166          1         90        287
    September................................          8         29          8          3  .........           8         73          4         43        168
                                              --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          3rd Quarter........................         34         67         13          5  .........          29        439          9        230        792
                                              ==============================================================================================================
    October..................................         27         42         14          8          2           2         76         27        163        334
    November.................................         21         73          5         10          5          18        104         70         57        342
    December.................................         17         25          1          7  .........           6        263         64         58        424
                                              --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
          4th Quarter........................         65        140         20         25          7          26        443        161        278      1,100
                                              ==============================================================================================================
    2010 Total...............................        312        338         46         58          7         122      1,796        234      1,135      3,736
                                              ==============================================================================================================
    2009 Total...............................        331        677        155        107        317         153      3,876      1,185        321      6,791
                                              ==============================================================================================================
    Percentage change........................      -5.74     -50.07     -70.32     -45.79     -97.79      -20.26     -53.66     -80.25    +253.58     -44.99
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                 SENATE LIBRARY DOCUMENT DELIVERY FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2009
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                         Micrographics  Photocopiers
                                                       Volumes    Materials  Facsimiles   center pages      pages
                                                       loaned     delivered                 printed        printed
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    January........................................         376         322          17            50         4,361
    February.......................................         202         286          16            83         4,154
    March..........................................         360         390          11            99         4,417
                                                    ----------------------------------------------------------------
          1st quarter..............................         938         998          44           232        12,932
                                                    ================================================================
    April..........................................         282         420          12           100         9,032
    May............................................         252         318          14            49         5,495
    June...........................................         248         326          11            91         9,294
                                                    ----------------------------------------------------------------
          2nd quarter..............................         782       1,064          37           240        23,821
                                                    ================================================================
    July...........................................         285         382          16            60        11,443
    August.........................................         220         374          13           109         3,867
    September......................................         255         377          27            20         4,753
                                                    ----------------------------------------------------------------
          3rd quarter..............................         760       1,133          56           189        20,063
                                                    ================================================================
    October........................................         212         362          34             8         4,942
    November.......................................         306         395          41           108         4,860
    December.......................................         253         397          11            80         5,365
                                                    ----------------------------------------------------------------
          4th quarter..............................         771       1,154          86           196        15,167
                                                    ================================================================
    2010 Total.....................................       3,251       4,349         223           857        71,983
                                                    ================================================================
    2009 Total.....................................       3,118       4,159         212         1,378        71,756
                                                    ================================================================
    Percentage change..............................       +4.27       +4.57       +5.19        -37.81         -4.77
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                          sos deg.PAGE SCHOOL

        The United States Senate Page School exists to provide a smooth
    transition from and to the students' home schools, providing those
    students with as sound a program, both academically and experientially,
    as possible during their stay in the Nation's capital, within the
    limits of the constraints imposed by the work situation.
    Summary of Accomplishments
        Accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools
    continues through April 2013.
        Two page classes successfully completed their semester curriculum.
    Closing ceremonies were conducted on June 4, 2010 and January 28, 2011,
    the last day of school for each semester.
        Orientation and course scheduling for the spring 2010 and fall 2010
    pages were successfully completed. Needs of incoming students
    determined the semester schedules.
        English usage pre- and post-tests were administered to students
    each semester and the results were reviewed by faculty to determine
    what usage instruction or remediation was needed.
        A foreign language seminar on basic grammar terminology was offered
    fall 2010.
        Study skills sessions were provided to identified students in need
    of training.
        Faculty and staff provided extended educational experiences to
    pages, including 20 field trips, two guest speakers, opportunities to
    play musical instruments and vocalize, and foreign language study with
    the aid of tutors. Eight field trips to educational sites and two guest
    speakers were provided for summer pages as an extension of the page
    experience.
        National tests were administered for qualification in scholarship
    programs. Fourteen pages took 28 Advanced Placement exams in 11
    subjects.
        The community service project embraced by pages and staff in 2002
    continues. Items for gift packages were collected, assembled, and
    shipped to military personnel serving in various locations. Pages
    included letters of support to the troops.
        The evacuation plan and COOP plan have been reviewed and updated.
    Pages and staff continue to practice evacuating to primary and
    secondary sites.
        Staff and pages participated in escape hood training, and staff
    renewed certification in CPR/AED procedures.
        All students and staff participated in a Constitution Day event.
        Computer Services upgraded the Page School's library computers to
    include Microsoft 2007.
    Summary of Plans
        Our goals include:
      --Individualized small group instruction and tutoring by teachers on
            an as-needed basis will continue to be offered, as well as
            optional academic support for students preparing to take AP
            tests;
      --Foreign language tutors will provide assistance to students, and a
            foreign language seminar on basic grammar terminology will
            continue to be offered each semester;
      --The focus of field trips will be sites of historic, political, and
            scientific importance which complement the curriculum;
      --English usage pre- and post-tests will continue to be administered
            to students each semester to assist faculty in determining
            needs of students for usage instruction; and
      --Staff development options include attendance at seminars conducted
            by Education and Training and subject matter and/or educational
            issue conferences conducted by national organizations.

                sos deg.PRINTING AND DOCUMENT SERVICES

        The Office of Printing and Document Services (OPDS) serves as
    liaison to GPO for the Senate's official printing, ensuring that all
    Senate printing is in compliance with title 44, U.S. Code as it relates
    to Senate documents, hearings, committee prints, and other official
    publications. The office assists the Senate by coordinating,
    scheduling, delivering and preparing Senate legislation, hearings,
    documents, committee prints and miscellaneous publications for
    printing, and provides printed copies of all legislation and public
    laws to the Senate and the public. In addition, the office assigns
    publication numbers to all hearings, committee prints, documents and
    other publications; orders all blank paper, envelopes, and letterhead
    for the Senate; and prepares page counts of all Senate hearings in
    order to compensate commercial reporting companies for the preparation
    of hearings.
    Printing Services
        During fiscal year 2010, the OPDS prepared 3,698 requisitions
    authorizing GPO to print and bind the Senate's work, exclusive of
    legislation and the Congressional Record. Since the requisitioning done
    by the OPDS is central to the Senate's printing, the office is uniquely
    suited to perform invoice and bid reviewing responsibilities for Senate
    printing. As a result of this office's cost accounting duties, OPDS is
    able to review and assure accurate GPO invoicing as well as play an
    active role in helping to provide the best possible bidding scenario
    for Senate publications.
        In addition to processing requisitions, the Printing Services
    Section coordinates proof handling, job scheduling and tracking for
    stationery products, Senate hearings, Senate publications and other
    miscellaneous printed products, as well as monitoring blank paper and
    stationery quotas for each Senate office and committee. OPDS also
    coordinates a number of publications for other Senate offices, such as
    the Curator, Historian, Disbursing, Legislative Clerk, Senate Library,
    as well as the U.S. Botanic Garden, USCP, AOC, and the CVC. These tasks
    include providing guidance for design, paper selection, print
    specifications, monitoring print quality, and distribution. Last year's
    major printing projects included:
      --semi-annual report of the Secretary of the Senate;
      --tributes to retiring Senators;
      --art and historic objects in the Senate;
      --The Kennedy Caucus Room brochure;
      --2010 Senate Telephone Directory;
      --Senate gallery passes and visitor badges; and
      --CVC tour tickets and informational brochures.
    Hearing Billing Verification
        Senate committees often use outside reporting companies to
    transcribe their hearings, both in-house and in the field. OPDS
    processes billing verifications for these transcription services
    ensuring that costs billed to the Senate are accurate. OPDS utilizes a
    program developed in conjunction with the SAA Computer Division that
    provides greater billing accuracy and information gathering capacity;
    and adheres to the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration's
    transcription services billing guidelines for commercial reporting
    companies. During 2010, OPDS provided commercial reporting companies
    and corresponding Senate committees a total of 820 billing
    verifications of Senate hearings and business meetings; more than
    59,000 transcribed pages were processed at a total billing cost of
    $554,214.
        During 2010, the office processed all file transfers and billing
    verifications between committees and reporting companies electronically
    ensuring efficiency and accuracy.
    Secretary of the Senate Service Center
        The Service Center within OPDS is staffed by experienced GPO
    detailees who provide Senate committees and the Secretary of the
    Senate's office with complete publishing services for hearings,
    committee prints, and the preparation of the Congressional Record.
    These services include keyboarding, proofreading, scanning, and
    composition. This allows committees to decrease, or eliminate,
    additional overtime costs associated with the preparation of hearings.
    Additionally, the Service Center provides work for GPO detailees
    assigned to legislative offices during Senate recesses.
    Document Services
        The Document Services Section coordinates requests for printed
    legislation and miscellaneous publications with other departments
    within the Secretary's office, Senate committees, and GPO. This section
    ensures that the most current version of all material is available, and
    that sufficient quantities are available to meet projected demands. The
    Congressional Record, a printed record of Senate and House Floor
    proceedings, Extension of Remarks, Daily Digest and miscellaneous
    pages, is one of the many printed documents provided by the office on a
    daily basis. In addition to the Congressional Record, the office
    processed and distributed more than 10,000 distinct legislative items
    during the 2nd Session of the 111th Congress, including Senate and
    House bills, resolutions, committee and conference reports, executive
    documents, and public laws.
        The demand for online access to legislative information continues
    to be strong. Before Senate legislation can be posted online, it must
    be received in the Senate through OPDS. Improved database reports allow
    the office to report receipt of all legislative bills and resolutions
    received in the Senate which can then be made available online and
    accessed by other Web sites, such as LIS and Thomas, used by
    congressional staff and the public.
    Customer Service
        The primary responsibility of OPDS is to provide services to the
    Senate, but documents are also made available to the general public and
    other government agencies. During 2010, more than 12,000 requests for
    legislative material were received at the walk-in counter, through the
    mail, by fax, and electronically. Online ordering of legislative
    documents and the Legislative Hot List Link, where Members and staff
    can confirm arrival of printed copies of the most sought after
    legislative documents, continued to be popular. The site is updated
    several times daily each time new documents arrive from GPO to the
    Document Room. In addition, the office handled thousands of phone calls
    pertaining to the Senate's official printing, document requests, and
    legislative questions. Recorded messages, fax, and email operate around
    the clock and are processed as they are received, as are mail requests.
    The office stresses prompt, courteous customer service while providing
    accurate answers to Senate and public requests.
    On-demand Publication
        The office supplements depleted legislation where needed by
    producing additional copies in the DocuTech Service Center, staffed by
    experienced GPO detailees who provide Member offices and Senate
    committees with on-demand printing and binding of bills and reports.
    On-demand publication allows the department to cut the quantities of
    documents printed directly from GPO and reduces waste. The DocuTech is
    networked with GPO, allowing print files to be sent back and forth
    electronically. This allows OPDS to print necessary legislation for the
    Senate Floor, and other offices, in the event of a GPO COOP situation.
    Accomplishments and Future Goals
        Over the past year, the OPDS has faced challenges by providing new
    services for customers and improving existing ones. Of particular note
    is the office's commitment to help ``green'' the Senate. During 2010,
    more than 5.5 million sheets of 100 percent recycled paper were ordered
    by Senate offices, representing a 22 percent increase more than the
    previous year. During the last 3 years orders for fully recycled stocks
    have increased 750 percent. The office works diligently to track
    document requirements, monitoring print quantities, and reducing waste
    and associated costs. More than 400 new and revised print jobs were
    routed electronically for customer approval improving turnaround time
    and efficiency.
        The office continues working with the GPO on behalf of its
    customers, to improve efficiency and to meet the evolving needs of the
    Senate. Focus on COOP and emergency preparedness will continue.

                        sos deg.PUBLIC RECORDS

        The Office of Public Records receives, processes, and maintains
    records, reports, and other documents filed with the Secretary of the
    Senate that involve the Federal Election Campaign Act, as amended; the
    Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended; the Senate Code of
    Official Conduct: Rule 34, Public Financial Disclosure; Rule 35, Senate
    Gift Rule filings; Rule 40, Registration of Mass Mailing; Rule 41,
    Political Fund Designees; and Rule 41(6), Supervisor's Reports on
    Individuals Performing Senate Services; and Foreign Travel Reports.
        The office provides for the inspection, review, and publication of
    these documents. From October 2009 through September 2010, the Public
    Records office staff assisted more than 2,000 individuals seeking
    information from reports filed with the office. This figure does not
    include assistance provided by telephone or email, nor help given to
    lobbyists attempting to comply with the provisions of the Lobbying
    Disclosure Act of 1995, as amended (collectively, the ``LDA''). In
    addition, the office works closely with the Federal Election
    Commission, the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, and the Clerk of the
    U.S. House of Representatives concerning the filing requirements of the
    aforementioned Acts and Senate rules.
    Fiscal Year 2010 Accomplishments
        The office continued to implement S. 1, the Honest Leadership and
    Open Government Act (HLOGA), which amended the LDA and the Senate Code
    of Conduct. The office posted two guidance updates and concentrated on
    LDA compliance issues, referring 2,473 cases of potential noncompliance
    to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia. The Senate Office of
    Public Records continued to test COOP plans and pandemic response
    plans.
    Plans for Fiscal Year 2011
        The Public Records office will assess technology infrastructure
    needs, as well as continue to semiannually review and update the LDA
    Guidance as needed. The office will continue to develop and implement
    educational information and tools that will help all report filers
    comply fully with the law and assist customers in accessing the
    information they seek.
    Automation Activities
        During fiscal year 2010, the Senate Office of Public Records worked
    with the SAA to enhance database performance for all issue areas and
    improve public query programs.
    Federal Election Campaign Act, As Amended
        The act requires Senate candidates to file quarterly and pre- and
    postelection reports. Filings totaled 5,147 documents containing
    358,500 pages.
    Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 (LDA), As Amended
        The LDA requires semi-annual financial and lobbying activity
    reports. As of September 30, 2010, there were 4,635 registrants
    representing 18,776 clients. The total number of individual lobbyists
    disclosed on 2010 registrations and reports was 12,754. The total
    number of lobbying registrations and reports processed was 131,410.
    Public Financial Disclosure
        The filing date for Public Financial Disclosure Reports was May 17,
    2010. The reports were made available to the public and press by June
    16, 2010 as required by statute. Public Records staff provided copies
    to the Select Committee on Ethics and the appropriate State officials.
    A total of 3,191 reports and amendments were filed containing 21,651
    pages. There were 463 requests to review or receive copies of the
    documents.
    Senate Rule 35 (Gift Rule)
        The Senate Office of Public Records received 316 Gift Rule/Travel
    reports during fiscal year 2010.
    Registration of Mass Mailing
        Senators are required to file mass mailing reports on a quarterly
    basis. The number of pages submitted during fiscal year 2010 was 495.

                        sos deg.STATIONERY ROOM

        The United States Senate Stationery Room is the provider of office
    and administrative supplies, personalized stationery, and special order
    items for official Government business. The Stationery Room serves all
    Members, support offices, and other authorized organizations.
        The Stationery Room fulfills its mission by:
      --Utilizing open market, competitive bid, statutorily required, and/
            or GSA schedules for supply procurement;
      --Maintaining sufficient in-stock quantities of select merchandise in
            order to best meet the immediate needs of the Senate community;
      --Developing and maintaining productive business relationships with a
            wide variety of vendors to ensure sufficient breadth and
            availability of merchandise;
      --Maintaining expense accounts for all authorized customers and
            preparing monthly activity statements;
      --Managing all accounts receivable and accounts payable
            reimbursement; and
      --Ensuring the integrity of all funds and other government assets
            under our control.

    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      Statistics
                                         -----------------------------------
                                          Fiscal year 2009  Fiscal year 2008
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Gross sales.........................     $3,343,167.00     $3,594,733.94
                                         ===================================
    Sales transactions..................            44,626            47,459
    Purchase orders issued..............             6,354             6,586
    Vouchers processed..................             7,022             7,073
    Office deliveries...................             5,986             5,661
    Number of items delivered...........           136,021           134,191
    Number of items sold................           390,528           439,042
    Total cartons received offsite......            22,583  ................
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------

    GAO Audit
        At the request of the Secretary of the Senate, in September 2010,
    GAO conducted an inventory observation and audit of the Stationery Room
    financial operations. The Stationery Room received a positive review
    during the verbal feedback portion of the GAO exit interview. The
    recommendations provided by GAO at the conclusion of their observation
    had either already been implemented or will be adapted as recommended
    as part of our future operational procedures.
    Fiscal Year 2011--Looking Ahead
        Subject to funding availability, the Stationery Room anticipates an
    upgrade to its point-of-sales operations, by upgrading/replacing
    obsolete signature capture devices at the counter. This update would
    permit transaction receipts to be emailed to the office at the time of
    sale, eliminating the generation and loss of paper receipts, and a more
    environmentally friendly process.
        The Stationery Room hopes to launch a pilot project that will allow
    constituents to make online flag purchases from Senate offices
    utilizing credit cards to orders. In addition, the Stationery Room
    anticipates launching online ordering of stationery supplies by Member
    and committee offices in 2011.

                        sos deg.WEB TECHNOLOGY

        The Department of Web Technology is responsible for the Web sites
    that fall under the purview of the Secretary of the Senate:
      --the Senate Web site (Senate.gov)--available to the world;
      --the Secretary's internal Web site (Webster.senate.gov/secretary)--
            available to the Senate Staff;
      --central portions of the Senate Intranet (Webster.senate.gov)--
            available to the Senate Staff; and
      --the Senate Legislative Branch Web site (Legbranch.senate.gov)--
            available to the Senate, House of Representatives, LOC, AOC,
            GAO, GPO, Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and USCP.
    The Senate Web Site--Senate.gov

        The Senate Web site content is maintained by more than 30
    contributors from seven departments of the Secretary's office and three
    departments of the SAA. Content team leaders regularly share ideas and
    coordinate the posting of new content. All content is controlled
    through the Secretary's Web Content Management System (CMS) managed by
    the Department of Web Technology.
    Major Additions to the Web site in 2010
        Rumors! Tall Tales About Senate Art http://www.senate.gov/
    artandhistory/art/myths/myth_homepage.htm
        The online exhibit dispels common rumors regarding Senate art. This
    project was a multi-year effort, and the final online version is the
    product of close collaboration with the Curator's Office.
    Artifact Browse List Collections
        http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
    Interior.jsp.
        http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
    Sittername_List.jsp.
        http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/common/collection_list/
    Beyond_Cap_Hill.jsp
        Created new and interesting ways for the Curator's Office to group
    artifacts and for these artifacts to be displayed, researched, and
    enjoyed by a large and diverse audience. The flexibility of these lists
    made it possible to reorganize the artifacts on Senate.gov into a much
    more useful manner.
    Decorative Art Added
        http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/art/a_three_sections_with_teasers/
    DecorativeArts.htm.
        The previously mentioned artifact browse lists were instrumental to
    getting new genres of artifacts online. The addition of furniture,
    mirrors, timepieces, and ephemera makes even more of the Senate Art
    collection available for all to enjoy in a fun and informative display.
    Daily Senate Floor Report
        http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/floor_activity/
    floor_activity.htm.
        The online report highlights morning, legislative, and executive
    business that occurred in the previous day. This one report combines
    information previously only available in several different documents
    and provides hyperlinks to relevant information, such as bill summary
    and status pages, treaties, nominations, and roll call votes. Previous
    days' data will be made available in the coming year.
    Public Records Feedback Form
        http://www.senate.gov/legislative/Public_Disclosure/
    feedback_form.htm.
        The newly added Web form provides an additional avenue of
    communication with the Office of Public Records.
    Investigation Committees
        http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/
    Investigations.htm.
        Produced new page templates and modified existing ones to allow the
    Historical Office to showcase and share their rich historical accounts
    of Senate and Joint Committees involved in investigations. These
    highlight Members involved and trace the origins through the outcome of
    these Committees. This is surely an area that will continue to expand
    over the years as we are able to add more information about past
    investigation Committees and as future ones arise.
    Committee FAQ
        http://www.senate.gov/general/common/generic/committee_faq.htm.
        In response to many emails sent to the public Webmaster account,
    data gathered from Web traffic tools, and analysis of searches entered,
    this new page was created to answer question about committees and clear
    up common misconceptions.
    Legislative Process Information Enhanced
        http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/legislative/
    d_three_sections_with_teasers/process.htm.
        Revamping this section greatly added to the amount of information
    available on the legislative process. A related enactment of law
    section was also created and linked as a companion: http://
    www.senate.gov/legislative/common/briefing/Enactment_law.htm.
    Senate Chronology Page
        http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/
    chronology.htm#chrono logy=y1787_1800.
        Implemented a new and interesting way to display historical
    information in conjunction with the Historical Office. The new display
    puts all information on a single page which allows the user far more
    interaction.
    Seven Featured Biographies
        http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/
    featured_biographies.htm.
    Four Oral Histories
        http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/
    g_three_sections_with_teasers/oralhistory.htm.
    Visitors Section Expanded
        http://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/visiting/
    a_three_sections_with_teasers/visitors_home.htm.
        Unique subsections were added in the visitors section for
    employment and procurement opportunities. The employment page allows
    for the browsing of positions available with the Secretary of the
    Senate, SAA, Member, and committee offices. The information for these
    positions come from unique systems and are combined into a single
    useful resource location.
        Homepage feature articles were published on the following topics:
      --Yea or Nay voting in the Senate;
      --Celebrate National Library Week: Browse Senate Art Publications;
      --Biographical Directory: Who's Who in Congress;
      --The Role of Committees in the Legislative Process;
      --Senate Art Exhibits: Learning about the Senate;
      --Focus on the Constitution: The Connecticut Compromise; and
      --Explore the Senate's Decorative Art Collection.
    Secretary's Intranet--Webster.senate.gov/secretary

        The Secretary of the Senate Intranet (http://webster.senate.gov/
    secretary) continued to expand information and services offered. An
    archive for UNUM, the newsletter of the office of the Secretary of the
    Senate, was established and linked to from the front page. Web-based
    order forms were maintained, expanded, and enhanced for the requesting
    of specific legislative documents, class registration, blank paper,
    room reservations, and stationery product suggestions.
        A catalog-based ordering system was developed for the Stationery
    Office, which will allow staff to order online. The new system is
    managed with the content directly from the Stationery Office's existing
    Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS). The ordering system was
    designed and implemented with the intent of being especially helpful to
    State offices. This project was a multiple-year effort involving
    several different departments and the diligent work of four interns who
    were instrumental in associating pictures with products.
        FrontPage, the Web portal for the SIS, was moved to the Secretary's
    internal domain and has a completely new look. Web technology worked
    very closely with the Senate Library to help establish and provide
    surveys, announcements, and information regarding the transition in
    addition designing, developing, and launching the new site,
    frontpage.senate.gov, in a short period of time. The design utilizes
    more advanced technologies to make the site interesting and useful. All
    feedback suggests the new design is very helpful and well received by
    users.
    Webster Central Web site--Webster.senate.gov

        In conjunction with the SAA, Chaplain, and Senate Rules Committee,
    Web Technology continued administering, managing, and enhancing the
    central section of Webster. Web Technology partnered with the SAA and
    the Senate Library to enact major changes to the services tab, the
    search functions, and the links available on the lower left of the home
    page.
        The services tab is now a categorical listing of services available
    to the Senate that provides relevant Web pages, phone numbers, and
    addresses in a very easy to use interface. The data is produced using a
    taxonomy system and integrated through the CMS. The same source data is
    used to populate the newly expanded Webster search. This very advanced
    technique allows the same source file used for the services to produce
    the most relevant search results in the new directory in real time and
    without additional work.
        Web Technology continue to further streamline the management of
    content on the central site by repurposing additional files that are
    already updated through existing systems on Senate.gov. The expansion
    of repurposed data continues to reduce duplicative efforts, increase
    consistency, relevancy, and timeliness of data displayed on Webster.
    Standardizing on XML across both sites and having them integrated into
    the Secretary's CMS was essential to making this possible.
    Senate Legislative Branch Web site (Legbranch.senate.gov)
        The Legbranch server is accessible by the Senate, House of
    Representatives, LOC, AOC, GAO, GPO, CBO, and USCP. Web technology
    maintains a basic Web site for a Capitol Hill email messaging working
    group managed by the SAA. In the future the server will be used to
    share more information with other Capitol Hill entities.
    Accomplishments of the Office of Web Technology in 2010
        Completed the CMS upgrade on time and under budget. New hardware
    hosts the most currently released versions of the software (as of
    January 2010) that comprises the CMS. This upgrade has proven to be the
    most stable environment yet. Additionally, Web Technology built a
    complete development repository that mimics the production environment.
    This allows us a much greater ability to customize the system and try
    out various solutions without compromising the uptime or efficiency of
    the production version.
        Added the Daily Senate Floor Report to Senate.gov. This represents
    a milestone, as this project has been worked on for approximately the
    past 5 years. The online report highlights morning, legislative, and
    executive business that occurred the previous day. This one report
    combines information previously only available in various printed
    documents. Having much of the data hyperlinked to relevant information,
    such as bill summary and status pages, treaties, nominations, and roll
    call votes, makes this a tremendously useful resource.
        Audited the Senate.gov Web pages regularly, updating, enhancing,
    and correcting pages; verifying content; and reviewing individual page
    designs throughout Senate.gov for accessibility and usability.
    Additionally, attended training on the latest advances in coding
    techniques to ensure accessibility and applied them to our sites.
        Constantly monitored data feeds from the LIS/DMS system ensuring
    content on Senate.gov was current and all processes were functioning
    properly. This is of vital importance regarding information such as
    committee hearing schedules, vote data, and Member contact information.
        Worked with new Senate offices to establish and maintain temporary
    Web pages including a picture, biography, and contact information until
    they were able to get permanent Web sites established.
        Responded to approximately 1,000 emails from the general public
    regarding Senate.gov sites. Worked with various content providers, Web
    support groups, the SAA, Member, and committee offices to make
    suggestions and resolve issues.
        Continually reviewed and adjusted search operations and canned
    matches for both Senate.gov and Webster based on user tendencies and
    requests. A major addition was the creation and maintenance of a new
    Google onebox for the services (Red Book) recently released.
        Prepared for the release of an online version of the Secretary of
    the Senate's Report. Collaborated with the Disbursing Office, the
    Committee on Rules and Administration, and GPO to formulate a strategy
    to provide the report in a useful and secure manner.
        Produced several new versions of the Senate Chief Counsel for
    Employment Web site. Worked closely with the office to achieve their
    desired look through several iterations of design, development, and
    review.
        Designed and developed a seminar registration application for the
    Senate Chief Counsel for Employment. The system allows customized links
    to be sent which auto-populates a registration form along with a
    complete class list.
        Conducted user testing with Senate staff and interns to increase
    understanding of current Web site interactions, desires, and best
    practices.
        Participated in Capitol Hill working group determining ideal manner
    of providing public legislative data in a secure, downloadable, and
    searchable format. Other entities involved in this project are the
    House of Representative, GPO, and the LOC.
        Helped organize Capitol Hill-wide Webmaster meetings, where best
    practices were shared across entities. Regularly gave presentations and
    facilitated conversations during meetings.
        Continually trained and practiced working from remote locations to
    be prepared should the need arise. All staff members are fully capable
    of accomplishing their job functions from any location with Internet
    access. This was accomplished largely through configuring virtual
    machines that mimic our workstations on office laptops, which we all
    may access. Regardless of which staff member uses which laptop, the
    experience will be ubiquitous and consistent with being in the office.
        Aided the Senate Library in aspects of SIS transition. The new
    FrontPage interface exposes many more resources in an easy to use
    manner. In leveraging advances in Web 2.0 technologies, Web Technology
    is able to take greater advantage of available space and provide robust
    information concisely. Through designing and developing the system in
    XML and leveraging the CMS it is easy for nontechnical users to update
    and maintain.
        Worked extensively with the Senate Library in the continued
    development, implementation, and maintenance of taxonomies utilizing a
    knowledge base system. Participated in the planning, design,
    development, and administration for including the ``Red Book'' data in
    the knowledge base and then on Webster.
        Created virtualized development server for the Secretary's
    Intranet. Also, maintained virtualized production server for the
    Secretary's Intranet and dedicated search server.
        Worked with the Historical Office and GPO in the design of a new
    stand-alone site for the Historical Office's States project that will
    be available to the public as well as Senate staff. All required data
    templates for the new site have been established in the content
    management system.
        Continued to enhance subject-based collection lists for the Senate
    Curator. Initially the lists organized art objects by sitters. It has
    been expanded to other subject areas, all drawn from the Curator's
    maintained object database, along with more advanced control options
    for Curator staff.
        Developed a new vote menu display that utilizes legislative handles
    and has new display features as requested from the Legislative Clerks.
    Working closely with the LIS/DMS group to implement requested data
    changes that will coincide with the new display.
        Successfully transitioned more than 700 hyperlinks to GPO's FDSys
    as they phase out GPOAccess.
        Built an entire new back-up server for the CMS at the ACF with the
    SAA, ensuring our COOP plan can be implemented. The ACF server is an
    exact replica of the production system and is continually tested to
    serve as a real time replacement should the production server become
    inoperable. Shortly after the upgrade was completed, Senate.gov
    experienced a hardware failure that necessitated the use of the ACF
    environment while the Senate was in session and votes were occurring.
    Due to extensive planning, Web Technology was able to stand up the
    alternative system in approximately 1 hour, a major accomplishment.
    Senate.gov Usage Statistics
        In 2010 an average of more than 275,000 visits occurred per day on
    Senate.gov. Again this year, approximately 26 percent of visitors
    entered through the main Senate homepage. The majority came to the site
    through the main Senators' contact page; growth in visits is likely due
    to the addition of XML data to the contact page and associated
    automated requests.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                        Visits from
                            Title of Web page                          Visits/month       Average      United States
                                                                                         duration      (percentage)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senate.gov site.................................................       8,521,779      16 minutes              90
    Senate homepage.................................................       1,856,960      15 seconds         ( \1\ )
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    \1\ Not available.

        Reviewing statistics on Web page usage helps the content providers
    better understand what information the public is seeking and how best
    to improve the presentation of that data. Visitors are consistently
    drawn to the following content items, listed in order of popularity.

                                               MOST VISITED PAGES IN 2010
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                          Average
                                Top pages                              Visits/month    Visits/month      duration
                                                                                                         (seconds)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Senators contact info list......................................         276,248         624,056              42
    Committees......................................................          67,194          92,871              37
    Legislation and records.........................................          56,264          75,156              80
    Active legislation..............................................          49.139          63,931             167
    Votes home......................................................          48,793          68,966              68
    111th, 2nd Session vote menu....................................          44,242          74,223             146
    Employment positions............................................          40,471          48,703             416
    Calendars.......................................................          33,594          73,100             182
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        By a huge margin, the most popular page on the main Senate Web site
    is the list of Senators with links to their Web sites, comment forms,
    main office addresses, and telephone numbers. Visitors also continue to
    be interested in legislative matters in 2010 with Roll Call Vote
    Tallies, the Active Legislation table, Committee assignments, and
    schedules being particularly popular. The visits per month did decrease
    across some of the most visited pages on the site. A big increase is
    noted for the visitors to the employment pages now offered on
    Senate.gov indicating this is a much used and valuable resource.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Senator Hoeven has now joined us.
        Do you have any opening remarks that you might want to make
    before we ask the SAA to make his presentation?
        Senator Hoeven. Only briefly, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.
        My only opening comment, at this point, is to thank all of
    you for being here, and even more so for the incredible job
    that you do. I've just been here a short while, but I can't
    help but be impressed by what you do and how well you provide
    for not only the Members themselves, but also for all the other
    things that you do that go into a really complex and difficult
    job. This, of course, is the people's capitol in the greatest
    Nation in the world. And so, your responsibility is tremendous.
        And you're really on a world stage. I can think of all the
    times that I saw, on television, Terry Gainer leading the
    President in during the State of the Union Address. And, of
    course, all of the things that go into securing these premises,
    Chief, and still making it friendly to the public.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        And so, Nancy, to you, and to all of you, for the job that
    you do, again, in providing for the Senators, the Members of
    Congress, and, at the same time, keeping this incredible
    complex that is so historically significant and so magnificent
    in every way for the responsibility you have and the way that
    you conduct your duties every day, I just want to commend you
    for that; and, of course, look forward to working with you on
    this very important aspect of doing that important job; and, of
    course, that's the budget.
        So, thank you so much.
        [The statement follows:]

                   Prepared Statement of Senator John Hoeven

        Thank you, Chairman Nelson, for calling this hearing to consider
    the fiscal year 2012 legislative branch budget requests for the
    Secretary of the Senate, the Sergeant at Arms (SAA), and the United
    States Capitol Police (USCP). I would like to join you in welcoming our
    witnesses: Secretary of the Senate, Nancy Erickson; Senate SAA, Terry
    Gainer; and the Chief of the USCP, Phillip Morse; and their deputies
    and assistants who will be assisting with testimony. I thank you all
    for being here with us today for this important discussion on how the
    agencies you represent are planning to move forward in the coming
    fiscal year.
        The Secretary of the Senate's office is requesting $31.99 million,
    a slight increase of 0.2 percent to restore the across-the-board
    rescission that was taken of all non-defense, discretionary
    appropriations in the final fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution.
    This funding request maintains the transfer of the Senate Information
    Services program from the SAA to the Secretary's office, so I am
    pleased to have both of you here today to speak about this particular
    program, its funding needs and the success of its transfer.
        The SAA total request is $219.2 million, an increase of $214,000,
    or 0.1 percent, which includes $77.6 million for salaries and $141.6
    million for expenses. The subcommittee worked very closely with the SAA
    and the Secretary's office last year to ensure that appropriate funding
    was in place for the Telecom Modernization and Payroll System Upgrade
    projects, so I am very interested in hearing about how those projects
    are progressing.
        Finally, the USCP request totals $387.6 million, an increase of
    $47.5 million, or 14 percent, which includes an increase of $22.2
    million, or 8 percent, for salaries and $25.3 million, or 40 percent,
    for expenses. I am interested to hear about improvements that have been
    made in the budget formulation process, after the budget
    miscalculations from fiscal year 2010, and whether or not any
    improvements have been made in the overtime issue that the USCP
    continues to face. And of course, I look forward to an update on the
    Radio Modernization Program.
        As you are all painfully aware, the completion of the fiscal year
    2011 appropriations process included great debate on both sides of the
    aisle and both sides of the Capitol on how best to reduce overall
    spending across the Federal Government. While we made reductions to
    many funding levels in the legislative branch, for the most part each
    of the appropriations accounts within your agencies was either held
    relatively harmless or received an increase when compared to fiscal
    year 2010. I would suggest that you should not anticipate receiving
    such favored treatment in the fiscal year 2012 budget--we must
    seriously begin the process of scaling back funding in all
    appropriations accounts, even if it means giving up some of the
    services we are accustomed to receiving here in the Capitol complex.
        I look forward to working with you on the funding issues for your
    agencies as we move through the fiscal year 2012 process.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.

                        Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper

    STATEMENT OF HON. TERRANCE W. GAINER, SENATE SERGEANT
                AT ARMS
        Mr. Gainer. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member
    Hoeven. I appreciate the opportunity to join my colleagues
    before you this afternoon to discuss our budget submission for
    the upcoming fiscal year.
        I ask that my written testimony be submitted and made part
    of the record.
        Senator Nelson. And it will be.
        Mr. Gainer. Mr. Chairman, we have spoken, over the past few
    years, about the importance of tightening our belts amidst the
    fiscal turmoil we find ourselves in, and we have heard you with
    unmistakable clarity. Senator Hoeven and I and my two
    colleagues recently met with him and had a very similar
    conversation.
        Accordingly, the budget request I have submitted for fiscal
    year 2012 is, as you indicated, just a bit more than $219
    million. That is an increase of less than $250,000 more than
    the fiscal year 2011 enacted level, and 9 percent, or $20
    million, below the amount I requested in fiscal year 2011. This
    year, we have chosen to defer requests for upgrades to our IT
    systems and for increased capacity for our data storage
    networks, requests we would have made in a better budget
    environment.
        To the extent we have some urgent needs that cannot be
    deferred further without affecting operations of the Senate, we
    will submit a request to the subcommittee to use our remaining
    prior year unobligated funds to cover them.
        I am proud of the efforts my staff has made to reduce costs
    across the agency, and we will continue to look for ways to
    achieve additional savings with uncompromising service to the
    community.
        The SAA is a member of the legislative branch procurement
    group--this is an example of some savings--which enables
    legislative branch agencies to recognize savings and economies
    of scale by working together on common contracts and
    acquisition activity. Through these combined efforts,
    legislative branch agencies have saved $6.6 million during 2009
    and 2010.
        Mr. Chairman, our budget has remained virtually flat for 3
    consecutive years. We have identified and eliminated all of the
    so called low-hanging fruit in our budget. I fear that further
    reductions will adversely impact our service to you and the
    Senate community. In order to be good stewards of the
    taxpayers' money, it is my responsibility to make sure that we
    are providing the infrastructure, security, and support needed
    for this institution to run smoothly. These services take place
    not only here in Washington, but in the 454 State offices.
        My 40-plus-page written testimony covers accomplishments
    and challenges during the past year. Let me give you just a few
    highlights.
        In the last 2 years, our phone system was overwhelmed by
    the massive volume of calls generated by the healthcare debate.
    Senators were upset, rightly so, and so were your constituents.
    There were gaps in the phone service between Members and their
    constituents, and our voicemail system was unable to withstand
    the pressure. It was our job to ensure that this does not
    happen again.
        To that end, offices were introduced, last year, to the
    Watson Messaging and Watson Online directory updates. These
    functions provide one of the key things officers were asking
    for: the ability to tailor their internal processes to better
    meet their constituents' needs. The new phone system, which
    will begin to roll out later this year, will be even more
    robust than the current one, and will eliminate the volume-
    related issues we have seen in the past.
        Our IT successes this year included the continuation of our
    server virtualization efforts. We will reduce energy,
    maintenance, and support costs by running more than 500 servers
    in the virtual environment.
        Our Help Desk team achieved a customer satisfaction rating
    of more than 96 percent--an excellent level. We successfully
    processed 257 million email messages in the past year, while
    protecting our customers from spam and malicious messages.
        And we continue to update the tools the Senators and staff
    can use to stay connected with each other and their
    constituents: adding smartphones and other mobile wireless
    devices to our catalog, and upgrading the already robust video
    conferencing capabilities.
        This subcommittee granted us approval last year to relocate
    our printing, graphics, and direct-mail function from Postal
    Square on Capitol Hill to the new offsite facility located in
    Landover, Maryland. Thank you very much. We are very grateful
    for your leadership on this endeavor, and proud to report that
    the project is on schedule, actually a little bit ahead of
    schedule, and under budget, and will generate a substantial
    savings in cost as we move forward. Our return-on-investment
    calculations appear to be right on target. We'll save more than
    $10 million in the 20 years, for about a 3.6 percent return on
    investment.
        During 2010, our post office processed the second-highest
    volume of mail in the last decade. I'm pleased to announce, in
    February of this year the Senate Post Office began accepting
    credit and debit cards, an added convenience for our customers.
    There's been very good feedback on that.
        The number of floor proceedings has increased, the number
    of committee hearings has substantially increased, the number
    of radio feeds that we've sent out has increased. All this has
    been brought about by the allocations that you, Chairman, and
    your budget committee have given us.
        In May 2010, we opened a Hart Senate Office Building
    appointment desk to assist staff in escorting guests to the
    Capitol. Our five Senate appointment desks collectively
    welcomed nearly 165,000 guests during 2010. Our customer and
    employee satisfaction levels have never been higher. The
    numbers are very good, both within the SAA and Senate-wide.
    But, providing quality service to the Senate wouldn't be
    possible without our close working relationship with the
    Secretary of the Senate, the USCP, the Architect of the Capitol
    (AOC), and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
        Recently, just as another example, in working with the
    Senate Rules Committee and the USCP, we implemented a new
    Senate floor closure policy that establishes a clear and
    concise hours of operations of the doors. This initiative will
    save 8,970 hours of overtime and $553,000 annually. Chief Morse
    and the Rules Committee worked very hard on that.
        We have a great team, led by Martina Bradford, my deputy;
    Bret Swanson in Operations; Chris Dey, our Chief Financial
    Officer; Pat Murphy, Human Resources Director; Kim Winn, the
    Chief Information Officer; Christy Prietsch, who serves the
    entire Senate community and has been very busy in the Employee
    Assistance Program; Cam Stickley, Education and Training
    Director; Becky Daugherty, our protocol officer; Rich
    Majauskas, in Continuity and Emergency Preparedness; Mike
    Stenger, in Intelligence and Protective Services; and Rick
    Edwards, in Capitol Operations.
        The only area in which I have not been successful is to
    change Nancy Olkewicz from an oppressor to one who's oppressed.
    But, we are working on that. And I will be happy to answer any
    questions.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        But, I would just like to say something to my partner,
    Chief. Many of the drivers of the USCP budget increase lie in
    the constant challenges imposed by the USCP Board, ongoing
    threats, and the Chief's proactive desire to enhance safety.
    So, while that seems like, ``Why do we keep raising that?'' I
    sometimes wish the board could come and testify about all the
    angst we go through to try to make this place safe.
        Thank you, Sir.
        [The statement follows:]

                    Prepared Statement of Terrance W. Gainer

                                  INTRODUCTION

        Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, thank you for
    inviting me to testify before you today. I am pleased to report on the
    progress the Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (SAA) has made over
    the past year and our plans to enhance our contributions to the Senate
    in the coming year.
        For fiscal year 2012, the SAA respectfully requests a total budget
    of $219,176,000. This is an increase of $214,000 more than the fiscal
    year 2011 enacted level, and $20,000,000 (or 9 percent) below the
    amount requested in fiscal year 2011. This modest budget request will
    allow us to maintain, for now, the level of service we provide to the
    Senate community. Mr. Chairman, you have spoken over the past few years
    about the importance of tightening our belts amid fiscal turmoil and we
    have heard you with unmistakable clarity. This year, we have chosen to
    postpone making requests for upgrades to our information technology
    (IT) systems and for increased capacity to our data storage networks,
    requests we would have made in a better budget environment. Instead, as
    the committee previously requested, we are submitting a request to use
    prior year unobligated balances for the technology items we removed
    from the fiscal year 2012 budget.
        I am proud of the efforts my staff has made to reduce costs across
    the organization and will continue to look for ways to achieve
    additional savings without compromising service to the Senate
    community. Mr. Chairman, we have remained flat for 3 years now. We have
    exhausted our efforts to eliminate the so-called ``low-hanging fruit''.
    I fear that additional cuts to this budget will significantly impact
    our service to the Senate community. The appendix accompanying this
    testimony elaborates on the specific components of our fiscal year 2012
    budget request.
        In developing this budget and our operating plans, we are guided by
    priorities framed in our Strategic Plan, including ensuring the United
    States Senate is as secure and prepared for an emergency as possible,
    and providing the Senate with outstanding service and support,
    including the enhanced use of technology.
        Our preparedness efforts during the past year placed a premium on
    our interaction with Senate offices. During 2010, each office was
    personally visited or contacted by a member of our emergency
    preparedness team multiple times in response to support requests or to
    update emergency plans. Each contact was designed to enhance and
    upgrade our program and ensure that Senate staff has the essential
    tools necessary to respond during an emergency. We leveraged these
    interactions to ensure we addressed preparedness planning, emergency
    notification protocols, emergency equipment, and accountability of
    staff throughout an emergency event.
        Our IT successes this year included the continuation of our server
    virtualization efforts, where we reduce energy, maintenance, and
    support costs by running more than 500 servers in a virtual
    environment. Our Help Desk team achieved a customer satisfaction rating
    of more than 96 percent at the satisfactory or excellent level. We
    deployed new voice messaging and directory update capabilities as part
    of our ongoing telecommunications modernization project. We
    successfully processed 257 million email messages during calendar year
    2010, while protecting our customers from spam and malicious messages.
    And we continued to update and expand the tools that Senators and staff
    can use to stay connected with each other and their constituents--
    supporting iPhones and iPads, adding mobile wireless devices to our
    technology catalog, and upgrading our already robust video conferencing
    capabilities.
        In other services, our cabinet shop designed, built, and installed
    177 pieces of furniture, a 43 percent increase from the previous year.
    The demand for framing services increased by 6 percent more than the
    previous year with a total of 2,764 orders completed. During fiscal
    year 2010, our Printing, Graphics, and Direct Mail (PGDM) department
    continued to improve operations and respond to the demand for producing
    documents from digital files. By utilizing the latest technology in
    digital printing, the publishing section produced 7.8 million pages, an
    increase of 81 percent more than fiscal year 2009. Another area of high
    demand during fiscal year 2010 was the production of charts. By
    upgrading software to process files quicker, PGDM produced 9,273 large-
    format charts, an increase of 15 percent more than fiscal year 2009.
        And Mr. Chairman, in fiscal year 2010, this subcommittee approved
    the use of prior year unobligated funding to relocate the Postal Square
    printing and mailing operations to a new facility in Landover,
    Maryland. This relocation has a projected net positive cash flow of
    $2.8 million and 3.6 percent return on investment over 20 years. Design
    plans have been approved for the build-out of the facility, and the SAA
    has contracts in place to support moving equipment and installing data
    communications and a security system. Construction started in January
    2011 and PGDM will begin moving equipment in July 2011 and take
    occupancy in September 2011. We greatly appreciate your support in this
    effort.
        My organization continues to be a good steward of taxpayers'
    dollars as we continue to elevate our performance. Our productivity
    increased to unprecedented levels, exemplified by the Senate Post
    Office processing the second-highest volume of mail in the last decade,
    surpassed only by 2009. I was pleased to announce in February of this
    year that, as an added convenience for our customers, the Senate Post
    Office now accepts credit and debit cards. Feedback from our customers
    has been extremely positive.
        The year 2010 represented another busy period for the Recording
    Studio. Last year, we provided 1,078 hours of gavel-to-gavel coverage
    of Senate Floor proceedings. We provided broadcast coverage of 723
    Senate committee hearings and 1,074 radio productions. Additionally,
    our team of seasoned professionals produced 1,066 shows for Senators
    from our television studios. In addition, this past year our Recording
    Studio broke new ground when we provided the land-based production and
    engineering support for an appropriations hearing which included a live
    videoconference with astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
        To enhance our services to the Senate community, in May, 2010, we
    opened a Hart Senate Appointment Desk to assist staff in escorting
    guests to the Capitol. Our five Senate Appointment Desks collectively
    processed 163,811 guests during 2010. The total number of badges issued
    was the second highest in a given year since the appointment desks were
    created more than 26 years ago. The past 4 years have been
    extraordinary in that the Senate has been in session an average of 181
    days from 2007 through 2010. This represents a 21 percent increase to
    the 150 average number of days the Senate was in session from 1996
    through 2006. Our customer satisfaction and employee morale levels have
    never been higher. All of this is to say that the SAA team is working
    toward the vision of our Strategic Plan: Exceptional Public Service . .
    . Exceeding the Expected.
        Assisting with all of the efforts of the SAA is an outstanding
    senior management team including Martina Bradford, who serves as my
    Deputy; Republican Liaison Mason Wiggins; Assistant Sergeant at Arms
    for Capitol Operations Rick Edwards; General Counsel Joseph Haughey;
    Legislative Liaison Nancy Olkewicz; Assistant Sergeant at Arms for
    Continuity and Emergency Preparedness Operations Rich Majauskas;
    Assistant Sergeant at Arms for Intelligence and Protective Services
    Mike Stenger; Assistant Sergeant at Arms and Chief Information Officer
    Kimball Winn; Chief Financial Officer Chris Dey; and Assistant Sergeant
    at Arms for Operations Bret Swanson. The many goals and accomplishments
    set forth in this testimony would not have been possible without this
    team's leadership and commitment.
        We are grateful for our relationship with the U.S. Capitol Police
    (USCP). I am honored this year to serve as Chairman of the United
    States Capitol Police Board and, in this regard, I value the input of
    the other members, House Sergeant at Arms Bill Livingood, Architect of
    the Capitol (AOC) Stephen Ayers, and Chief Phillip D. Morse, Sr., who
    is an ex officio member of the Board. Working with the Senate Committee
    on Rules and Administration and the USCP, we recently implemented a new
    Senate door closure policy that establishes clear and concise hours of
    operation for the doors in the Senate office buildings and the Senate
    side of the Capitol. This initiative will save 8,970 hours of overtime
    duty and $553,000 annually.
        The SAA also works with other organizations that support the
    Senate. I would like to take this opportunity to mention how important
    their contributions have been in helping us achieve our objectives. In
    particular, we work regularly with the Secretary of the Senate, the
    AOC, and the Office of the Attending Physician. When appropriate, we
    coordinate our efforts with the United States House of Representatives
    and the agencies of the executive and judicial branches. I am impressed
    by the people with whom we work and blessed with the quality of the
    relationships we have built together.
        I am very proud of all the men and women of the SAA team who help
    keep the Senate running. While serving as SAA, I have seen their great
    work and devotion to this institution. The employees of the SAA are
    among the most committed and creative in Government.
        As always, my staff and I are grateful for the support and guidance
    of your subcommittee, the full committee and the Senate Committee on
    Rules and Administration.
       saa deg.continuity and emergency preparedness operations
    Emergency Planning
        Our emergency plans and procedures are designed to ensure the
    safety of Senators, staff, and visitors within our facilities and equip
    them with the necessary tools to respond to any situation. Each year we
    strive to improve these procedures using industry best practices and
    lessons learned. We made significant strides to ensure staff
    preparedness through enhancing Emergency Action Plans (EAP), mobility-
    impaired evacuation procedures, internal relocation actions, and the
    annual Chamber Protective Actions exercise.
        The central document that reflects our preparedness efforts is the
    EAP and I am pleased to inform you that 100 percent of Senate offices
    now possess a customized version based on their unique circumstances
    and needs. In this past year, 65 percent of all Senate office EAPs were
    reviewed and validated using guidelines set forth by the Occupational
    Safety and Health Administration and the Congressional Accountability
    Act (CAA). Significant areas of improvement included the addition of
    office-specific shelter-in-place locations, internal relocation
    actions, and AIRCON threat procedures. We collaborated with the Senate
    Chief Counsel for Employment to develop EAPs for all Senators'
    hideaways. This included confirming evacuation routes for Senators and
    deploying additional emergency equipment. We met with new office
    managers and established an EAP for each office assigned to a swing
    space. We subsequently made appropriate adjustments as offices were
    moved to permanent suites. This effort involved collaborating with each
    office's Office Emergency Coordinator (OEC), installing and
    transferring emergency equipment, and training office staff.
        Accommodating staff with accessibility needs is outlined in each
    office's EAP and is an integral portion of our training efforts. A
    major enhancement to our program this year is the increased capability
    to simultaneously evacuate mobility-impaired individuals from both the
    primary and alternate emergency staging areas within the Senate office
    buildings instead of just one location.
        Last year I reported on the implementation of the internal
    relocation program. This year I am pleased to announce the completion
    of our program rollout. We collaborated with the AOC to install signage
    throughout the Senate office buildings indicating internal relocation
    sites. In response to numerous office comments, comfort stations have
    been deployed to all sites including the Dirksen Senate Office Building
    stairwells. Notification messages were developed and displayed in
    collaboration with the House of Representatives and USCP. We have also
    conducted six individual office exercises to validate our plans and
    messages and will execute more in calendar year 2011.
        The protection and preparedness of Senators, staff, and visitors
    within the Senate Chamber is one of our main focus areas. Each year we
    test and validate the Chamber Protective Actions plan by conducting a
    full-scale exercise within the Chamber. The 2010 exercise proved to be
    the most comprehensive and complex exercise to date. The exercise
    linked together Chamber Protective Actions procedures with the
    deployment of escape hoods and comfort stations along with the
    subsequent execution of the USCP Senate Leadership AIRCON Rally Point
    Plan and Briefing Center Plan.
    Emergency Communications and Accountability
        We continued to improve notification and communication programs
    this year to ensure devices and systems are ready to support the Senate
    during local or large-scale emergencies. The Accountability and
    Emergency Roster System (ALERTS) is the primary alert and notification
    system that provides a single interface for delivering emergency email,
    PIN, and voice messages to the Senate population. We conduct monthly
    tests for staff and biannual tests for Senators in conjunction with the
    USCP, Secretary of the Senate, party secretaries, and other
    stakeholders. These tests are designed to ensure our emergency
    messaging system is reaching all intended recipients. This year we
    introduced the ALERTS Dashboard to provide our office and the USCP with
    real-time accountability data through a user-friendly graphic
    interface. This capability was tested during the summer recess
    evacuation drills in the assembly areas and at the USCP Incident
    Command Post. We also continue to support USCP assembly area operations
    through the deployment of tablets and laptops with faster connections,
    greater reliability, and ergonomic features. We consistently reinforce
    the importance of accountability with Senate staff by conducting Remote
    Check-in drills and training using BlackBerry devices. We trained 406
    OECs and achieved a 60 percent successful reporting rate this year,
    demonstrating increased participation over the last 2 years.
        The SAA provides ``watch standers'' in the USCP Command Center
    after normal business hours when the Senate is in session or during
    emergency incidents and special events. Watch standers are trained to
    use the Senate Dialogic and Chyron systems to assist USCP as necessary
    and provide senior SAA leadership with amplifying information regarding
    ongoing events. Due to reliance on these two systems, the Dialogic
    Communicator System was upgraded to provide better completion
    percentages of voice messaging to desk and mobile phones. Additional
    capabilities were added to the Chyron Cable TV Alert System to handle
    digital and high-definition channels. The system is now fully capable
    of sending alert messages via digital channels once they are activated
    by the AOC.
        We procured and installed WebEOC Mapper Professional, a Geospatial
    Information System that provides Senate emergency managers with the
    ability to create a dynamic, geographically based common operating
    picture. Multilayered mapping has proven to be a highly effective
    emergency management technique for government and law enforcement
    agencies throughout the country. We also continue to administer
    WebFusion to promote collaboration between the Senate, House of
    Representatives, GAO, and AOC emergency managers through seamless
    information sharing across networks. Additionally, WebFusion has
    allowed legislative branch users to connect to local and State
    emergency managers throughout the National Capital Region. Information
    sharing between legislative and executive branch emergency managers is
    further being improved through the installation of a Homeland Secure
    Data Network (HSDN) terminal. Our mission requires access to classified
    email, messaging, data analysis, and collaboration tools along with law
    enforcement, emergency management, and National Capital Region intranet
    resources. The use of HSDN will assist in intelligence gathering,
    situational awareness, decisionmaking, and event reporting.
    Training and Equipment
        Training and outreach programs are designed to provide interactive
    classroom and personalized instruction to the Senate community. These
    valuable programs give staff a variety of preparedness and life-safety
    awareness information to enhance personnel and office protection. This
    year, 274 training sessions were conducted in which more than 5,600
    staff were trained on a variety of preparedness topics. We initiated an
    OEC certificate program in 2008 for staff that completed requisite
    emergency preparedness courses and were pleased to issue 25
    certificates this year. This certificate recognizes an OEC's
    willingness and commitment to enhance their professional knowledge in
    emergency preparedness and to be ready to support any emergency action
    that may occur on Capitol Hill.
        The culmination of our emergency preparedness training and outreach
    programs is the Senate's National Preparedness Day event held each
    September as part of National Preparedness Month. This event invites
    members of the emergency management community throughout the National
    Capital Region to set up static equipment displays, provide program
    capability awareness training, and demonstrate new products. I had the
    pleasure of introducing USCP Chief Phillip D. Morse, Sr. and National
    Weather Service Director Dr. John Hayes as guest speakers to address
    our theme of ``One Minute--One Life: Are You Prepared?'' to more than
    100 staff members at this year's event.
        Our continued management and support of emergency protective and
    communication equipment caches in each Senate office has been a key
    preparedness posture. These caches allow offices to receive
    notifications from the USCP to shelter-in-place, deploy to their
    designated internal relocation site, or use specified equipment to
    evacuate the building. Each cache includes escape hoods, emergency
    supply kits, and wireless emergency annunciators. Our office ensures
    functionality through an annual inventory of assigned equipment and
    replacement of expired items. All swing spaces and permanent suites for
    freshmen Senators were supplied with equipment prior to occupancy at
    the beginning of the 112th Congress. More than 270 offices and more
    than 27,000 pieces of equipment were inventoried over the past year
    alone. Additions to the equipment program include emergency news radios
    for office supply kits, deployment of Victim Rescue Units to primary
    and alternate staging elevator caches, installation of portable comfort
    stations and lockers at internal relocation sites, and implementation
    and activation of an AIRCON warning and notification system for the
    fourth floor of the Capitol.
        We released an updated version of the Roadmap to Readiness in 2011
    and included an Emergency Response Guide, a condensed, portable version
    of critical emergency information. The Roadmap to Readiness is a
    comprehensive guide designed to equip offices with the necessary tools
    to create emergency plans for Washington, DC and State offices. It also
    suggests how to educate and train staff to respond appropriately in
    emergencies. Additionally, new Web-based training classes have been
    developed to provide staff with the means to educate themselves from
    the convenience of their desktops.
        We are improving audio and visual capabilities in rooms primarily
    used for training Senate staff, but are used as EOCs during special
    events or emergencies. The ability to display information on multiple
    screens is essential for EOC operations and will also greatly improve
    the capabilities needed to provide technical training to Senate staff.
    SAA is simultaneously working to improve similar capabilities at the
    Alternate Computing Facility (ACF) in Manassas in case the primary
    location is unavailable, and a briefing room in the CVC that may be
    used as a situation room or operations center during a shelter-in-
    place. Upgrading capabilities at these locations will ensure senior
    staff is equipped to manage special events and emergency incidents
    through better information management and improved situational
    awareness.
    Exercises
        A comprehensive exercise program is structured to ensure Senate
    plans are practiced and validated regularly. The SAA and Secretary of
    the Senate conduct several joint exercises annually with the USCP, AOC,
    Office of Attending Physician, party secretaries, and other key
    congressional stakeholders. A total of 15 exercises, tabletops, and
    guided discussions were completed in 2010, covering all aspects of
    emergency response including offsite alternate chamber, emergency
    operations center, chamber protective actions, briefing center,
    transportation, contingency telecommuting, accountability measures,
    internal relocation, mass casualty, and alternate office space. We
    successfully exercised a Chamber evacuation leading to Briefing Center
    activation to further test our abilities to quickly set up contingency
    facilities resulting in the most comprehensive Chamber exercise to
    date. A ``no-notice'' exercise was conducted to test the ability to
    activate an after-hours contingency site without warning. The general
    exercise format included functional capabilities demonstrations and
    tabletop scenarios designed to test the Senate's ability to function
    during an event that requires relocating to alternate facilities or
    contingency sites. After-action reports were generated to document
    lessons learned for future plan improvement. More than 15 exercises are
    scheduled for 2012 in addition to numerous training events and smaller-
    scale tests and drills designed to maintain and strengthen existing
    capabilities while addressing emerging needs and solutions.
    Continuity and Recovery
        This year Continuity and Emergency Preparedness Operations (CEPO)
    focused on developing contingency transportation and classified site
    plans as well as validating existing plans and procedures. We continued
    collaborating with Senate offices and committees to develop internal
    continuity of operations plans (COOP) and train staff accordingly. We
    acquired new transportation assets and developed accompanying
    activation and operations plans by leveraging our external support
    organization. We worked with our counterparts in the House to develop
    the Personnel Accountability System to enhance accountability during
    contingency transportation. The program is now in the final stages of
    development.
        As part of its plans to refine accommodations at unclassified
    continuity sites, CEPO updated the wiring in the Thurgood Marshall
    Building Briefing Center. A full-scale exercise at the Postal Square
    Briefing Center was conducted to validate movement of Senators to a
    safe and secure environment in the aftermath of an incident. We also
    improved plans to utilize the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
    building as an alternate office in the event the Senate is no longer
    able to occupy its regular work space. COOP materials and vital records
    were placed at these contingency facilities and on classified networks
    for convenient access. Finally, we collaborated with the Committee on
    Rules and Administration to develop new Fly Away Kits for committee
    hearings during continuity events. These materials are stored at
    classified locations and can be rapidly deployed after an incident.
             saa deg.intelligence and protective services
    State Office Security and Preparedness
        State office programs make security and preparedness training
    available to Senators and staff in more than 450 State offices
    throughout the United States. Almost two-thirds of these offices are
    located in commercial buildings with no internal security. The rest are
    located in Federal buildings that generally have some level of building
    security, but are routinely targeted for disruptive activity. Numerous
    high-profile and contentious issues arose in 2010 and several violent
    incidents in and around State offices led to increased awareness and
    participation in this voluntary, but critical program. Participating
    offices are provided with secure reception areas in order to screen
    visitors for signs of hostility, aggression, or impairment. Offices are
    also outfitted with access controls, duress buttons, burglar alarm
    systems, and closed-circuit camera systems. The program covers
    installation, maintenance, and alarm monitoring services and also
    includes an annual inspection and equipment testing.
        During 2010, more than 300 State offices received direct assistance
    in completing or updating their Comprehensive Emergency Plan (CEP). The
    CEP combines security, emergency preparedness, and continuity of
    government processes into one document that meets the requirements of
    the CAA. Continuous outreach regarding the importance of establishing
    plans was conducted through the development of a streamlined template
    to assist small offices with no continuity of operations requirement,
    and an online method to enter preliminary plan information. State
    office hazard overviews were completed or updated for 218 offices to
    identify natural or man-made hazards to be considered during plan
    development. Additionally, 13 new State offices received program
    briefings and emergency equipment and supplies similar to DC offices.
    Pandemic information was promptly disseminated to all State offices and
    approval from the Committee on Rules and Administration allowed staff
    to procure supplies for combating the H1N1 virus. A monthly OEC
    bulletin is now regularly distributed to all State offices and a
    certificate path has been established for State OECs. The focus of the
    program this year will turn to Web site updates and providing
    additional preparedness classes online.
        We provided security enhancements in 57 State offices during 2010.
    These enhancements included building secure reception areas to screen
    visitors, and installing burglar alarms, duress buttons, and closed-
    circuit cameras with digital video recorders. To date, the program has
    provided security enhancements in 80 percent of offices located in
    commercial spaces and 62 percent of offices located in Federal
    buildings, bringing the total amount of current offices with security
    enhancements to 75 percent. Additionally, more than 300 State office
    alarm systems were tested and inspected this year. This year, the focus
    will turn to utilizing a new all-hazard risk assessment to survey State
    offices and offer security enhancements to nonparticipating offices.
    Collaboration with representatives from the USCP, General Services
    Administration (GSA), Federal Protective Service, and the U.S. Marshals
    Service will continue.
    USCP Operations
        The Senate Campus Access program that coordinates Member office and
    committee requests for vehicle access through the campus security
    perimeter processed 586 special requests for vehicle clearances,
    deliveries, and bus access during fiscal year 2010, an increase of more
    than 130 percent from fiscal year 2009. Additionally, we developed an
    electronic request form via Webster for USCP coverage at subcommittee
    hearings.
        We collaborated with the USCP and external law enforcement agencies
    to monitor and secure special events such as the State of the Union
    Address, Democratic Senatorial Retreat, various joint sessions of the
    Congress, Summer Concert Series, Supreme Court nomination hearing for
    Associate Justice Elena Kagan, and memorial services for Senators
    Robert C. Byrd and Edward Kennedy.
        The Duty Desk in the USCP Command Center continues to ensure SAA
    representation and provide communication between the USCP and the
    Senate community during special events, critical incidents, and routine
    operations. The Duty Desk is manned by SAA personnel during business
    hours and while the Senate is in session. SAA staff receives routine
    training and updated operating procedures to fulfill the
    responsibility.
        Our recently hired Assistant Sergeant at Arms for Intelligence and
    Protective Services Mike Stenger maintains excellent working
    relationships with a multitude of components within the intelligence
    and law enforcement communities. Such trusted partnerships allow for
    the timely and accurate sharing of all-source intelligence and law
    enforcement-sensitive threat information when breaking situations
    occur. Furthermore, it provides the opportunity to collect all-source
    intelligence from appropriate partners and assess, integrate, and brief
    essential information to senior SAA staff that can then make sound,
    timely decisions for the safety and security of the U.S. Senate.
        Finally, recent events in Arizona led our office to greatly expand
    monitoring law enforcement investigations involving threats to Senators
    and provide updates to the SAA and affected Senators, from case opening
    through adjudication. We receive Senate office requests for local law
    enforcement assistance at public events and coordinate evaluation and
    assessment through the USCP. We are collaborating with the USCP
    Uniformed Services Bureau to develop a consistent and seamless
    community outreach program regarding safety and security for Senate
    offices.

                              saa deg.IT

    Enhancing Service, Security, and Stewardship
        We continue to provide a wide range of effective IT solutions to
    facilitate the Senate's ability to perform its legislative, constituent
    service, and administrative duties; to safeguard the information and
    systems the Senate relies upon; and to be ready to respond to
    emergencies and disruptions. As in our other areas, we also emphasize
    stewardship--the careful use of all of our resources, including the
    funding we are provided, our personnel and the external resources that
    we consume--in all aspects of our IT operation.
        As we do each year, we have updated, and are performing under, our
    2-year Information Technology Strategic Plan. The current version,
    under which we will be operating in fiscal year 2012, continues to
    emphasize our five strategic IT goals and their supporting objectives
    that drive our programmatic and budgetary decisions:
          Secure.--A secure Senate information infrastructure;
          Customer Service Focused.--A customer service culture top-to-
            bottom;
          Effective.--IT solutions driven by business requirements;
          Accessible, Flexible, and Reliable.--Access to mission-critical
            information anywhere, anytime, under any circumstances;
          Modern.--A state-of-the-art information infrastructure built on
            modern, proven technologies.
        Our fourth IT strategic goal--accessible, flexible, and reliable--
    may be the most impactful of the five goals. This goal undergirds
    everything we do from a technology standpoint. We must ensure that
    almost every system and every service we deploy can withstand
    disruptions to our operating environment, can be reconfigured if
    necessary to cope with disruptions, and can be used regardless of
    whether the person trying to use it is located within one of our spaces
    or elsewhere. We continuously re-evaluate existing services and systems
    to identify areas for improvement and make those improvements as soon
    as we can, in an effort to ensure the Senate can continue to do its
    work under any circumstances.
        From a budgetary standpoint, more than one-half of the Chief
    Information Officer organization's fiscal year 2012 request will cover
    the installation and support of the equipment acquired by Senate
    personal offices through the economic allocation, and for other
    programs that benefit offices directly. One-third will be devoted to
    providing services at the enterprise level, such as information
    security, the Senate data network, electronic mail infrastructure, and
    telephone systems. The remainder is almost equally divided between
    supporting the office of the Secretary of the Senate with payroll,
    financial management, legislative information, and disclosure systems;
    and our own administrative and management systems.

                saa deg.ENHANCING SERVICE TO THE SENATE

    Customer Service, Satisfaction, and Communications
       Our Information Technology Strategic Plan stresses customer service
    as a top priority, and we actively solicit feedback from all levels and
    for all types of services. For instance, we solicit customer feedback
    for every help desk ticket opened. In major contracts that affect our
    customers, we include strict service levels that are tied to the
    contractors' compensation--if they do well, they get paid more; if they
    do poorly, they get paid less. For instance, during the past year, the
    percentage of on-time arrivals for the IT installation team never
    dropped below 99 percent. The percentage of help desk calls that were
    resolved during the initial call averaged 56 percent, and 96 percent of
    customer surveys rated the IT help desk and installation services as
    either ``very satisfactory'' or ``excellent''. We expect this excellent
    level of performance to continue through fiscal year 2012.
        In fiscal year 2012 we will continue to communicate effectively
    with our customers through a well-developed outreach program that
    includes IT newsletters, periodic project status reviews, IT working
    groups, weekly technology and business process review meetings with
    customers, and joint project and policy meetings with the Committee on
    Rules and Administration, the Senate Systems Administrators
    Association, and the administrative managers steering group.
    Robust, Reliable, and Modern Communications
        We provide modern, robust, and reliable data network and network-
    based services that the Senate relies upon to communicate
    electronically within and among offices on Capitol Hill and in the 50
    States, to and from other legislative branch agencies, and through the
    Internet to the public, other agencies and organizations.
        We continue to keep our mobile communications offerings up to date
    with the latest technology. Last year, we added the Apple iPhone, the
    RIM 9800 Torch BlackBerry, the RIM 9330 Curve BlackBerry, and the RIM
    9650 Bold BlackBerry to the technology catalog. Currently, we are
    testing Android devices for support. We will continue to offer the
    Senate community the latest smartphone technology in fiscal year 2012.
        Following a migration to a new contract vehicle for our wide area
    network services in fiscal year 2010, we are better poised to realize
    the cost savings for this service compared to our previous contract
    with AT&T. Our cost for this service has gone from $5.2 million in
    fiscal year 2009 to $4.3 million in fiscal year 2010, and is on target
    to cost $3.8 million in fiscal year 2011. Given the election cycle and
    the additional moves, adds, and changes associated with incoming and
    outgoing Senators, the fiscal year 2011 costs could increase, but
    should remain less than fiscal year 2010 levels. We have also increased
    our service levels to approximately 50 State office locations and
    installed network optimization equipment in more than 90 locations
    overall. The cost of wide area network services will increase slightly
    in fiscal year 2012, to $4 million to allow us to continue our
    investments in enhancing network services to more State office
    locations.
        We are working with the other legislative branch agencies to
    improve interagency communication technology by implementing and
    securing an upgraded Capnet network that connects all the legislative
    branch agencies, with the goal of making this network the preferred
    path for all interagency communication.
        In addition to our robust messaging infrastructure that processed
    approximately 257 million Internet email messages during the past
    calendar year, we also support effective communication through the use
    of videoconferencing. During the last and current fiscal years, we have
    enhanced our videoconferencing infrastructure to allow participation in
    a high-definition video conference from virtually anywhere in the world
    using an inexpensive Web camera on a desktop or portable computer via
    the Internet. We are adding new capabilities, including a Web interface
    to allow an outside participant without a standards-based
    videoconferencing system to participate via a Web client, as well as
    the ability to escalate a point-to-point call to a multipoint call
    regardless of bandwidth or whether the system has multipoint capability
    installed.
        We also delivered a solution to the problem of transferring large
    files which allows media-based and other large files to be moved within
    the Senate and between the Senate and others in a secure and reliable
    fashion. We continue to expand the ways and tools for staff to be
    connected. This year we delivered iPhone and iPad email and tools
    integration and support. CIO staff worked extensively with a third-
    party software provider to develop a secure, reliable, and manageable
    iPhone corporate email client which met our requirements.
        We continue to make progress toward modernizing the Senate's entire
    telecommunications infrastructure to provide improved reliability and
    redundancy in support of daily and emergency operations, and to take
    advantage of technological advances to provide a more flexible and
    robust infrastructure. Toward that end, we will be replacing systems
    such as the cloakroom alerts, operational support and directory and
    billing systems over the coming year, while we continue to move forward
    with the replacement of the main telephone switch.
    Web-Based and Customer-Focused Business Applications
        As in past years, we continue to add functionality to TranSAAct,
    which is our platform for moving business online. Based on the business
    requirements of offices and the Committee on Rules and Administration,
    we continue to develop TranSAAct to eliminate paper-based manual
    processes and move them to the Web. Because it is built on an
    extensible modern database framework, TranSAAct allows indefinite
    expansion as new requirements are identified and fulfilled. This year
    we completed enhancements to TranSAAct including online parking
    services (e.g., request a parking assignment, reassign vehicles, add
    vehicles, etc.) and a forms depot featuring 117 forms and links to
    forms often used by administrative managers and chief clerks. We are
    completing work on adding the ability to make telecommunications
    service requests online.
        We look forward over the coming months and years to moving
    additional business processes to the Web, delivering increasing
    functionality to administrative staff, and reducing the time, paper,
    and errors associated with the current manual processes.
        We delivered an enterprise class SharePoint data collaboration site
    to provide a common access point for sharing information between
    offices that do not have direct access to one another. For example,
    subcommittee staff and staff in their Senate offices are using the site
    to view, comment on, and edit committee documents.
        We enhanced other Web-based applications such as a program that
    more than 60 offices use on their Web sites for accepting service
    academy nomination requests, intern requests, and other types of
    applications and requests. Constituents have submitted more than
    500,000 individual requests through this system. We also updated the
    committee hearing scheduling application to make it more robust and
    useful.
    Showcasing and Promoting Modern IT in the Senate
        We will continue to highlight new technologies in the Information
    Technology Demonstration Center through demo days, which have been
    well-attended in the past. After products are tested and validated in
    our technology assessment laboratory, they are then available for staff
    to try in the Demo Center. The demo days feature live demonstrations of
    new and emerging technologies.
        In order to perform technology assessments, feasibility analysis,
    and proof of concept studies, to ensure we are considering technologies
    that will directly support the Senate's mission, we continue to improve
    the capabilities in our technology assessment laboratory. Technologies
    and solutions are vetted and tested here prior to being announced for
    pilot, prototype, or mass deployment to the Senate. To ensure we focus
    on the most relevant technologies and solutions, the Technology
    Advisory Group, consisting of CIO staff and our customers, performs
    high-level requirements analysis and prioritizes new technologies and
    solutions for consideration for deployment in the Senate. Among the
    technologies that we look forward to supporting over the next few
    months is support for additional smartphones based on the Android
    operating system as well as Smart Cards. Smart Cards will enable a
    range of applications based upon Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
    certificates included on the Smart Cards, including access to GSA-
    controlled buildings, encryption and decryption of email and BlackBerry
    messages, digital signatures for email and vouchers, and log-on
    authentication.
        We will continue or intensify these efforts in fiscal year 2012 to
    ensure that the Senate is always well equipped to perform its
    functions. To keep our customers informed of our efforts, we publish
    the results of our studies on the emerging technology page of the CIO's
    area on Webster.
               saa deg.enhancing security for the senate
    Enhancing Security With Accessible, Flexible, and Reliable Systems
        As I mentioned earlier, we build security, accessibility,
    flexibility, and reliability into every system and service. In addition
    to those efforts, there are two projects that I would specifically like
    to mention.
        This past year our, CIO organization enhanced copier security by
    moving beyond the traditional safeguards of buying equipment that
    writes data to random, noncontiguous hard disk drive locations, to
    completely erasing or removing copier hard disk drives prior to
    disposal. We also reconfigured our copier baseline configurations to
    include hard disk drive overwrite systems that conform to National
    Security Agency security specifications without requiring user
    intervention. We continued our BlackBerry scanning program designed to
    detect security intrusions on wireless devices used during
    international travel. In fiscal year 2010 we scanned more than 300
    BlackBerrys, some multiple times. Fortunately, we found no major
    discrepancies. In fiscal year 2011 and fiscal year 2012 we will
    continue to seek ways to improve and enhance our scanning program.
        We have also installed the second and third components of the
    secure voice conferencing system to provide Secret-level conferencing
    to accommodate 40 additional participants once we obtain additional
    phone lines as part of our telephone system upgrade. In fiscal year
    2012, we plan to upgrade the system with a Web-based interface, making
    it more user-friendly.
    Enhancing System and Information Resiliency
        We continue to test our technology in scenarios in which our
    primary infrastructure and primary work locations have become
    inaccessible. This includes the simulated loss of our primary data and
    network facilities, as well as simulated loss of staff work spaces. All
    mission-essential Senate enterprise information systems continue to be
    replicated at our ACF, using our upgraded optical network and storage
    area network technology. We conduct a variety of exercises to ensure we
    are prepared to cope with events ranging from a burst water pipe, to a
    pandemic, to an evacuation of Capitol Hill. These exercises demonstrate
    our ability to support mission-essential systems under adverse
    conditions, and the ability to support substantial numbers of people
    working from home. We continue to exercise the ability to support our
    Senate customers in the event of an emergency situation which may limit
    our ability to arrive at work. This includes weekly and monthly COOP/
    pandemic exercises designed to ensure technical support is available
    from the ACF and other remote locations. Our diligence to this
    initiative proved worthwhile during the snow events of last year. With
    the knowledge that the business of the Senate continued and that State
    office locations were not affected by the weather in Washington, DC,
    our staff continued to support the Senate community remotely throughout
    these events. This included answering the phones from home-based
    locations, highlighting the capabilities that our migration to IP
    telephony may bring to the rest of the Senate.
        We also will continue to invest in and modernize storage systems
    that automatically replicate information from our primary site to our
    alternate site. These storage systems support our mission-critical
    systems as well as individual offices.
    Securing our Information Infrastructure
        As described in previous testimony, active and aggressive
    adversaries continue to target Senate information and technology
    assets. These adversaries use increasingly sophisticated tools,
    techniques, and procedures; rapidly shift their attack methods in
    response to new countermeasures; and continually refine their targeting
    of Senate information. Our key strategy to meet this threat has been to
    improve our coordination with other Federal agencies to share and adopt
    current best practices. We have greatly improved and expanded our
    relationships with other agencies, due in large part to the outreach
    efforts of IT Security staff over the past year. As a result, we are
    now better able to quickly adjust our countermeasures as adversaries
    shift their tactics. Our efforts and interactions with our Federal
    partners are comparable to DOD's evolving doctrine of ``active computer
    network defense'', a framework for defending military networks. We are
    working to incorporate five key elements of this doctrine into our IT
    Security operating model:
      --training and equipping SAA staff and contractors with specialized
            cyber security skills;
      --employing and continuously monitoring a strong core of layered
            defenses;
      --communicating current threat information to offices and providing
            knowledge and expert advice to help them secure their
            information;
      --sharing current best practices with our Federal agency partners;
            and
      --investing in rapid development, testing, and implementation of
            additional cyber defense capabilities.
        We describe each of these elements and provide implementation
    examples as follows: As an example of the first element, specialized
    skills development, our IT security branch undergoes continual,
    rigorous training on newly discovered threats and vulnerabilities.
        They attend industry and government conferences, complete online
    and classroom courses, host industry experts, conduct in-house classes
    and seminars, and share knowledge among their peers on the latest
    advances in cyberspace threats and defensive measures. This training
    helps us quickly put into operation and benefit from new defensive
    technologies. For example, we recently acquired new analysis tools that
    enable more precise identification of potential attacks and faster
    incident response times. These newly acquired skills were quickly
    deployed and put to practical use in our daily operations, producing
    demonstrable results and saving taxpayer dollars.
        The second element, layered defenses, requires us to develop
    multiple capabilities to prevent and detect intrusions at every point
    in our network and we have worked this past year to introduce and
    encourage widespread adoption of new defensive capabilities. As an
    example, our voluntary vulnerability assessment service has grown to
    include 43 Member offices and five committees, with more offices
    enrolling. The new Systems Management Service (SMS), an automated means
    for offices to automatically apply critical security patches to non-
    Microsoft software, has also grown rapidly since we introduced it in
    December 2010. Fifty-two offices are now using the service, which
    provides a significant (up to 68 percent) reduction in software
    vulnerability risk as measured by vulnerability assessment results. SMS
    serves as an excellent complement to our vulnerability assessment
    program and to Windows Server Update Services (WSUS), which
    automatically patches Microsoft software. The vulnerability assessment
    program, SMS, and WSUS combine well to serve as a ``success enabler''
    for offices by giving them the tools they need to continuously assess
    and improve their IT security posture.
        In addition to our vulnerability assessment and patch management
    services, we continue to monitor and improve our other centrally
    managed security services. One major initiative is our ongoing effort
    to enhance email security by establishing mutual trust mechanisms with
    other Federal agencies based on email source validation and encryption
    technologies. These trust mechanisms assure us and our participating
    Federal partners that messages exchanged are encrypted while traversing
    the Internet and are actually coming from an authorized mail server at
    each respective agency. As a result, Senate staff can have confidence
    that the messages they exchange with one of our trusted partners have
    not been read or manipulated by a third party while in transit and have
    come from a legitimate contact instead of a malicious actor using a
    forged sender address. We expect to continue expanding the number of
    agencies involved in this effort.
        The third element is reflected in our initiative to provide
    improved and varied training and awareness programs for offices. Over
    the past year, we have developed and conducted individual threat
    briefings for system administrators, office leadership, and other staff
    to educate them on the evolving threat environment and recommended
    freely available services that we provide to help them reduce their
    risk. We have also incorporated current effective practices into our
    general awareness materials that we provide through Webster and in-
    office presentations. We share our awareness material with other
    agencies and adopt useful material they share with us. Furthermore, we
    have incorporated an IT security briefing into the new system
    administrator training process to inform them of our services and to
    help them enroll and make the best use of our offerings soon after they
    are hired. Finally, we help system administrators identify critical
    systems that our adversaries would consider high-value targets and
    facilitate enhanced protection for these systems to assure continuity
    of operations.
        The fourth element involves sharing new threat information, trends,
    and effective practices with other Federal agencies. We do not share
    specific information concerning offices or staffs involved, but
    coordinate with these agencies to help establish a common information
    base and defensive posture. The relationships that we have built, and
    continue to build, are mutually beneficial and have paid great
    dividends in terms of improved security services for our offices. We
    can now provide offices more timely and detailed threat and
    vulnerability information, more reliable countermeasures, and more
    efficient identification and mitigation of many of our higher-priority
    incidents.
        The fifth and final element is rapid development, testing, and
    implementation of additional cyber defense capabilities. We recently
    tested and implemented a new log analysis tool that has reduced the
    time required to identify and notify offices of attacks from a matter
    of hours to just a matter of minutes. We are also looking forward to
    implementing a new monitoring tool in the next few months that will
    improve our ability to rate the severity of security incidents, reduce
    false positives, and provide offices with better guidance for
    recovering from incidents. Finally, we are currently researching
    potential solutions that will augment our anti-virus systems by
    blocking malicious or compromised Web sites, which are a primary cause
    of many of our security incidents.
        Adopting the elements of the Department of Defense's Active
    Computer Network Defense doctrine helps us work toward our strategic
    goal to provide a secure Senate information infrastructure. We will
    continue to adopt useful elements of the doctrine to further our
    efforts. We are continually changing and improving our tactics and
    operational processes to meet the rapidly changing cyber threat
    environment while supporting the Senate's mission.

                     saa deg.ENHANCING STEWARDSHIP

    Enhancing Stewardship Through Fiscal and Environmental Responsibility
        Stewardship of our resources is intertwined in everything we do, as
    well as being a driving force for some of our activities. We are always
    looking for ways to improve our processes or technologies so that we
    save time, money, electricity, paper, or other resources. Our CIO
    organization is a good steward of the fiscal resources of the Senate,
    consistently and continuously improving on the services offered to our
    customers while seeking only modest increases in funding. Many
    initiatives save an office hundreds or thousands of dollars in costs
    that would otherwise be borne out of their official accounts. As most
    of these initiatives save money due to a reduction in the purchase of
    some commodity, they also fit in with our efforts toward environmental
    stewardship. Some examples of our efforts to enhance fiscal and
    environmental stewardship are:
      --Continuation of our virtualization efforts, where we now reduce
            energy, maintenance, and support costs by running more than 379
            of our servers in a virtual environment. We will continue an
            aggressive campaign to virtualize servers until every server
            that can be virtualized is virtual.
      --Offices, especially those of the new Senators, have taken great
            advantage of our virtual machine infrastructure that allows us
            to centrally host their file and application servers on shared
            hardware at our primary and alternate facilities, which greatly
            increases server hardware efficiency, and, through system
            duplication and data replication, offers enterprise class data
            redundancy and recovery in the event of a critical local
            failure or crisis. The virtual solution also relieves offices
            of considerable noise, excess heat, and increases usable
            working areas for staff. It removes the single point of failure
            from existing office servers and meets continuity of operations
            and data replication requirements for approximately half the
            cost of existing solutions. To date we are hosting 86 Member
            and committee office file servers on our virtual
            infrastructure. Virtual servers running in the data center
            consume only 15 percent of the energy of a comparable number of
            physical servers. This means a reduction in power consumption
            and air conditioning requirements, saving Senate funds, while
            enhancing our ability to provide reliable and redundant
            services. Fewer servers used by the Senate also means fewer
            servers that need to be manufactured and therefore have to be
            disposed of at their end of life, which is greening on a
            national scale.
      --Work is well under way to offer offices the ability to host their
            constituent support systems and SharePoint collaboration
            systems in a virtual environment, which will provide offices
            the opportunity to operate without any physical servers in
            their offices.
      --We continue to use our catalog to highlight the energy-efficient
            aspects of our supported IT and general office equipment, and
            we conducted ``green demo days'' where vendors could answer
            questions about their products' environmental friendliness.
      --We continue our efforts to dispose of surplus electronic equipment
            through such programs as Computers for Schools. Last year we
            fulfilled 36 Member office requests and packed and shipped 900
            surplus computers to eligible public schools. We send other
            surplus equipment to the GSA for redistribution or resale.
      --We also ensure that the devices we recommend to the Senate meet the
            applicable ENERGYSTAR guidelines, and where feasible, the
            guidelines for the responsible manufacture of IT equipment.

                          saa deg.OPERATIONS

    PGDM
        The PGDM branch provides high-level, direct customer support to the
    Senate community through photocopying, graphic design, printing,
    mailing, archiving, logistics, and security.
        During fiscal year 2010, PGDM continued to improve operations and
    respond to demand for producing documents from digital files. By
    utilizing the latest technology in digital printing, the Publishing
    Section produced 7.8 million pages, an increase of 81 percent more than
    fiscal year 2009. PGDM continued to meet the demand for Constituent
    Services System (CSS) imaging by scanning, digitizing, and
    electronically transferring 1.1 million pages of constituent mail
    responses during fiscal year 2010. Another area of high demand during
    fiscal year 2010 was production of charts. By upgrading software to
    process files quicker, PGDM produced 9,273 large format charts, an
    increase of 15 percent more than fiscal year 2009.
        PGDM is customer-focused and achieved high levels of customer
    satisfaction. Reliable, user-friendly copiers in convenient satellite
    copy centers produced more than 7.6 million copies in fiscal year 2010.
    Utilizing traditional offset and digital printing, PGDM met customer
    requests for color printing, producing more than 21.8 million color
    pages. Combined printing volumes in all sections of PGDM during fiscal
    year 2010 totaled 52.4 million, a 6 percent increase more than fiscal
    year 2009. PGDM continued to improve services to meet the demand for
    archiving Senate office documents during fiscal year 2010.
        Through software and hardware upgrades, PGDM produced 511 rolls of
    microfilm, a 156 percent increase more than fiscal year 2009, and
    scanned and digitized more than 3.2 million pages, a 10 percent
    increase more than fiscal year 2009.
        As a good steward of its own resources and that of others, PGDM
    saved the Senate more than $1.8 million in postage costs by pre-sorting
    9.5 million pieces of outgoing Senate franked mail. New software
    systems have been integrated in a number of processes to validate,
    correct, or remove bad addresses prior to mailing. In fiscal year 2009,
    a system was put in place to validate addresses on constituent letters.
    The number of offices utilizing this process has grown from 14 in
    fiscal year 2009 to 97 in fiscal year 2010. PGDM has also upgraded
    software in the mail-sorting process. By implementing the new United
    States Postal Service (USPS) mandated intelligent barcode and moving
    updated software ahead of schedule, PGDM has ensured that Senate
    offices continue to receive maximum postage discounts. PGDM is
    continuing to work with a vendor to modify and test a Web-based
    application to provide address correction, validation, and delivery
    tracking for shipping of constituent flag requests.
        PGDM's commitment to teamwork and excellent customer service
    extends to our legislative branch partners as well. Our collaborative
    work with the AOC fulfilled 82,828 flag requests during fiscal year
    2010, and in tandem with GPO, delivered more than 2 million documents
    (Pocket Constitutions, Our Flag, Our American Government, etc.) to
    requestors. PGDM has also been working with the AOC to relocate the
    PGDM Logistics operations from SR-B31F to the Hart loading dock area.
    Construction of the Hart location is planned to be completed this
    spring which will allow for structural renovation on the lower level of
    the southwest corner of the Russell building. In early fiscal year
    2010, PGDM provided a tour of our CSS imaging operation to the White
    House Office of Presidential Correspondence staff, which was
    considering implementation of a similar operation.
        Through effective communication and teamwork, PGDM's Senate Support
    Facility upheld the SAA mission for operational security in fiscal year
    2010 by receiving 1,045,153 items from the USCP off-site inspection
    facility and transferring them to the Senate Support Facility. This
    process eliminated 561 truck deliveries to the Capitol complex while
    reducing traffic and allowing the USCP to focus on other aspects of
    safety.
        In fiscal year 2010, the subcommittee approved the use of prior
    year unobligated funding to relocate the Postal Square printing and
    mailing operations to a modern, efficient, secure, and safe facility.
    This relocation will ensure PGDM operations continue without
    interruptions in service from facility failures which have plagued the
    Postal Square building over the years. In collaboration with the AOC, a
    facility located in the same complex as the Senate Support Facility and
    the Senate Post Office Inspection Facility was selected and put under
    contract. The relocation project has a projected net positive cash flow
    of $2.8 million and 3.6 percent return on investment over 20 years.
    Design plans have been approved for the build-out of the facility, and
    the SAA has contracts in place to support moving equipment and
    installing data communications and security systems. Construction
    started in January 2011, and PGDM will begin moving equipment in July
    2011 and take occupancy in September 2011.

                      saa deg.CENTRAL OPERATIONS

    Smart Card Programs--ID Office
        The implementation of Homeland Security Presidential Directive
    (HSPD) 12--Policy for a Common Identification Standard for Federal
    Employees and Contractors will significantly impact Senators and their
    staff whose State offices are located in Federal buildings across the
    country. While legislative branch adoption of HSPD-12 is optional,
    compliance will allow Senators and staff unhindered access to work
    freely within these facilities. Staff from the ID Office and Technology
    Development Services is currently collaborating with executive branch
    counterparts to implement compatible access cards to paid staff within
    the 112th Congress.
        Although a substantial cost is associated with system architecture,
    there are continued efforts to explore advantages of Smart Card
    deployment. Sophisticated Smart Card credentials can provide multiple
    functions beyond current ``flash pass'' identification badges. While
    maintaining proximity technology used in the USCP's current physical
    access control system, digital certificates on Smart Cards may in the
    future be used for encryption of personally identifiable information
    exchanged with executive branch agencies in the processing of
    constituent casework. Other future benefits within the Senate community
    for digital certificates include digital signatures on financial
    documents and secure, single network sign-on.

                      saa deg.PARKING OPERATIONS

        The Parking Operations team continues to update policies and
    procedures to better serve the Senate community. For the first time,
    all Senate parking spaces were defined producing an accurate count of
    3,100 spaces (600 spaces greater than previous estimates). Beginning
    with the 112th Congress, Parking Operations streamlined policy and
    procedures to allow for greater customer understanding:
      --the number of permit types was reduced by 17 percent;
      --color was used on the parking map to better communicate parking
            area definitions; and
      --new signage was installed to clearly label parking areas.
        Parking Specialists continued to enjoy amplified visibility to
    customers as new kiosks were installed on Lots 12 and 16. Increased
    Segway use and wearing of reflective vests and gloves have also
    increased recognition of the specialists by customers and visitors.
    Employee retention has been superb; there has been only one vacancy in
    the last 18 months and that was due to a promotion.

              saa deg.TRANSPORTATION AND FLEET OPERATIONS

        Transportation and Fleet Operations safely and securely procures,
    manages, maintains, and disposes of SAA vehicles; provides
    transportation information to offices; and manages the Senate Parking
    Shuttle Service. The SAA fleet includes trucks, vans, buses, and SUVs
    used to support the Senate community. Senate leadership vehicles are
    leased and administered by Fleet Operations under the Executive Lease
    Plan on a biannual basis. Transportation and Fleet Operations is
    responsible for completing work orders, equipment installations, tag/
    registration renewals, and vehicle inspections for all fleet vehicles,
    performing more than 448 of these services in fiscal year 2010. Fleet
    staff scheduled more than 350 transportation requests and transported
    more than 20,000 passengers through the SAA Parking Shuttle Service in
    fiscal year 2010.
        Transportation and Fleet Operations offers several driver training
    programs including an online software training course developed by the
    National Safety Council (NSC), an in-house Professional Truck Driver
    Safety Certification Course also developed by NSC using a fleet staff
    certified instructor, and Segway Certification Training using fleet
    certified instructors.
        Transportation and Fleet Operations is a leader in ``Go Green''
    initiatives with 25 flex E-85 fuel vehicles, 5 hybrids, 2 electric
    vehicles, and 2 Diesel Exhaust Fluid-certified trucks. Fleet Operations
    will continue to explore the use of alternative fuel vehicles as
    replacements for older vehicles as they are rotated out of the fleet.

                      saa deg.PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO

        The photography studio provides photography and imaging services
    for Senate offices, capturing more than 75,000 photo images and
    producing more than 95,000 photo prints in fiscal year 2010. The
    studio's popular image archiving service was used to scan, organize,
    and transfer more than 80,000 photo images for archiving purposes in
    fiscal year 2010. The photo browser application provides Senate offices
    a secure location to store and organize photos and the ability to
    download and upload photos or place orders for photo prints from their
    desktop through a Web interface.

                       saa deg.SENATE HAIR CARE

        Senate hair care serves customers by offering the latest trends in
    hair styling to Senators and thousands of customers, including staff
    and the general public. In fiscal year 2010, revenue increased by
    approximately $40,000 (9 percent), the highest in 10 years. Continuing
    to build on the diverse customer base and supplying additional retail
    products and services, Senate Hair Care will remain a profitable and
    indispensable service offered by the SAA.

                      saa deg.SENATE POST OFFICE

        Mail remains a primary medium for constituents to communicate with
    Senators and their staff. During 2010, the total volume of mail
    addressed to the Senate Washington, DC offices was significant. Our
    Senate Post Office received, tested, and delivered 17,710,648 safe
    items to Senate offices, including 10,935,830 pieces of USPS mail; more
    than 6,234,000 pieces of internal mail routed within the Senate or to
    or from other Government agencies; 75,000 packages; and 465,777 courier
    items. The total number of mail and packages received and processed in
    2010 represented the second largest yearly total this decade, surpassed
    only by 2009. Mail received by the Senate has increased substantially
    over the past 2 years, bucking the nationwide trend that shows overall
    USPS mail volumes declining.
    Processing Mail Safely
        Protecting the Senate and its staff is my highest priority. We have
    worked collaboratively with this subcommittee, the Committee on Rules
    and Administration, our science advisors, the USCP, USPS, the White
    House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Department of
    Homeland Security in developing safe and secure mail protocols and in
    creating two of the best mail processing facilities of their type in
    the world.
        All mail and packages addressed to the Senate's Washington, DC
    offices are tested and delivered by Senate Post Office employees.
    During 2010, our highly trained off-site mail staff intercepted 221
    suspicious pieces of mail that were addressed to Senators with the
    intent to terrorize and disrupt Senate business. The USCP immediately
    responded to these threatening items at our off-site mail processing
    facility thereby preventing their delivery to any Senate office.
        We also worked with this subcommittee and the Committee on Rules
    and Administration to build and operate one of the best facilities
    within the Government to process time-sensitive documents that are
    delivered to the Senate. Our Congressional Acceptance Site ensures that
    all same-day documents are x rayed, opened, tested, and safe for
    delivery to Senate offices. The 465,777 items that we processed during
    2010 represented the most documents processed at this facility since it
    opened in August 2006, which was a 68 percent increase more than 2009's
    courier items. We were able to absorb this additional volume through
    cross-training our existing staff and by instituting process
    improvements rather than increasing our workforce.
        The Senate's method for processing mail has become the model for
    others. We have been asked to demonstrate our procedures and showcase
    our facilities for some of our Nation's allies and for other Government
    agencies, including the Departments of Defense and Homeland Security.
    The organizations that know the most about mail safety cite our highly
    trained staff and the Senate mail facilities as among the most
    efficient and secure in existence.
    State Office Mail
        Additionally, my office has worked collaboratively with our science
    advisors to introduce the first device designed to provide Senate staff
    who work in State offices with a level of protection when handling
    mail. Our science advisors believe that the Postal Sentry, if used
    properly, provides the best level of protection to State offices and
    their staff should they receive mail containing a potentially harmful
    substance. I have requested that all Senate State staff utilize the
    Postal Sentry mail processing system whenever mail is opened in their
    offices. All newly elected Senators' State offices have been equipped
    with the Postal Sentry and many other Senators have opted for the
    device as well. Currently, 238 State offices have the Postal Sentry, up
    from 66 State offices at the end of 2009. The Senate took the lead in
    providing State offices with a level of protection when handling mail.
    Recently, the House of Representatives ordered several Postal Sentrys
    for use in their district offices.
    Improving Services Offered
        My office strives to provide exemplary service to the Senate
    community. Our Senate Post Office, in conjunction with the USPS,
    operates contract retail locations in the Dirksen and Russell Senate
    Office Buildings. To the frustration of many, patrons in past years
    have been unable to purchase postage stamps, Express and Priority mail
    postage, mail supplies, insurance, and money orders with the
    convenience of a credit or debit card, only with cash. After lengthy
    negotiations with the USPS, I was pleased to announce in February of
    this year that as an added convenience for our customers, the Senate
    Post Office accepts credit and debit cards. Feedback from our customers
    has been extremely positive with the new and additional service.
    A Cost-effective Operation
        Even with the expansion of our capabilities, outreach efforts and
    the significant increases in mail volume, my office continues to be
    good stewards of taxpayer dollars. Technology and process improvements
    made since 2008 have enabled the Senate Post Office to reduce the
    number of its employees by 6 percent. Their achievement is even more
    impressive when you consider that the number of mail items received,
    tested, and safely delivered has increased by more than 25 percent
    annually during that same time period. We have compared our costs to
    other agencies and are pleased to report that we have one of the most
    efficient and cost-effective operations of its type. Some agencies with
    similar processes and mail volume spend millions more than the Senate
    in processing mail. A comparative analysis of similar organizations
    that contract out mail processing has determined that the Senate
    processes its mail for up to 62 percent less cost than others.

                      saa deg.CAPITOL FACILITIES

        SAA Capitol Facilities serves the Senate community by providing a
    clean and professional work environment through its Environmental
    Services branch. This branch cleans Capitol spaces, moves Capitol
    furniture, provides special event setups in the Capitol--including the
    10 event spaces in the CVC Senate expansion space--and completes other
    service requests. To meet cyclical customer demands during peak event
    setups and furniture moves, Capitol Facilities was able to improve
    labor cost efficiency by supplementing the full-time work force with
    contracted labor in place of additional FTEs. This resulted in a
    second-year cost savings of $150,000. Capitol Facilities completed
    3,127 special event setups in the CVC Senate expansion space and
    Capitol, a 24 percent increase from the previous year. Service requests
    from Capitol offices for moving furniture and supplies totaled 6,622,
    an increase of 11 percent more than the previous year.
        The Furnishings branch provides framing services to all Senators
    and committees. Demand for framing services increased by 6 percent more
    than the previous year with a total of 2,764 orders completed. The
    branch also provides custom cabinets and other high-quality furniture,
    carpeting, and draperies to Capitol offices. The Cabinet Shop designed,
    built, and installed 177 pieces of furniture, a 43 percent increase
    from the previous year. The Furnishings branch worked with the
    Committee on Appropriations on design and installation of custom
    carpet, construction of turrets for a new sound system, and
    installation of custom-built benches around the perimeter of the
    committee room (S-127). New furniture, draperies, and upholstery were
    provided for the Committee on Foreign Relations room and office (S-116/
    117), the Vice President's office (S-212), and the Republican
    Secretary's office (S-335). Additionally, 20 new Senate Chamber chairs
    were built for incoming Senators.

                              saa DEG.CVC

        My office has been involved with the CVC since its inception. We
    have worked collaboratively with others, including representatives of
    this subcommittee, to ensure that many of the operational aspects of
    the facility achieve desired results. Our participation and the
    challenges presented have been vast and varied, including, but not
    limited to, security, hours of operation, transitioning the Capitol
    Guide Service, emergency preparedness, IT, furnishings for the Senate
    side of the CVC, Senate meeting rooms setup and maintenance, bus
    routes, Capitol tour routes, coat checks, official appointments,
    accommodating visitors to the Senate Gallery, broadcast media
    infrastructure, ATM service, telephone service, and other
    communications infrastructure. I am pleased to report that all of the
    SAA departments involved with the CVC completed all of our tasks on
    time and within budget.
        More than 5 million visitors have experienced the CVC since its
    opening a little more than 2 years ago. Feedback from our guests has
    been extremely positive. The long lines of visitors waiting in the
    elements that were prevalent prior to the CVC's opening have been
    eliminated, as are the congested hallways in the Capitol. Visitor
    services professionals from across the country and around the world
    view the CVC, and its operation, as models of excellence in the visitor
    services arena.
        Each of our departments affected by the CVC adjusted its processes,
    thereby mitigating additional employees and costs when this magnificent
    addition to the Capitol opened. The impacts to their operations were
    significant, yet, by maximizing resources, we were able to achieve
    desired results.

                   saa deg.SENATE APPOINTMENT DESKS

    Expanding and Improving our Services
        An objective of the CVC was to improve security and the flow of
    visitors to the Capitol. To facilitate this goal, we expanded the
    Senate Appointment Desks 100 percent by adding two desks in the CVC,
    one located near the main entrance and the other located outside of the
    Senate Meeting Rooms on the lower level. These two desks required four
    additional FTEs to staff the desks. Improved technology and process
    improvements achieved by the Senate Post Office enabled the transfer of
    four employees from the Senate Post Office to the Senate Appointment
    Desks in the CVC. This is another example where my office exercised
    fiscal responsibility by finding resources within our organization
    rather than increasing costs by adding to the complement of employees
    assigned to the SAA organization.
        To enhance our services to the Senate community, we were tasked
    with opening a Hart Senate Appointment Desk in May 2010. Again SAA
    staff accomplished this task with minimal expense and without adding
    employees. We restructured the duties of our existing appointment desk
    team and those of our Doorkeeper team, thereby freeing up the labor
    needed to support an appointment desk located in the Hart Senate Office
    Building. We worked collaboratively with the Committee on Rules and
    Administration, USCP, and the AOC in designing a secure and welcoming
    process for staff who escort Senate guests to the Capitol from the Hart
    Senate Office Building.
        Our five Senate Appointment Desks collectively processed 163,811
    guests during 2010. The total number of badges issued was the second
    highest in a given year since the appointment desks were created more
    than 26 years ago.
        A goal for opening the CVC was to improve security by reducing the
    number of guests who enter through the Capitol's north door. Last year
    47,956 guests entered the Capitol through the CVC with its state-of-
    the-art security features and accommodations. Without the CVC, these
    guests would have entered through the north door of the Capitol,
    waiting in line and bearing the elements. The Capitol Appointment Desk
    reduced its number of guests processed through the north door to 37,577
    during 2010. The 2010 total number of visitors processed through the
    North Door represented a 40 percent reduction in the number of guests
    processed as compared to the year before the CVC opened. This reduction
    of guests in the Capitol improved safety, reduced wait time for
    entrance through the north door of the Capitol, improved visitor flow,
    and reduced congestion within the Capitol proper.
        Also in 2010, more than 72,000 guests entered the Capitol via the
    Russell Appointment Desk, including 60,550 who were destined for the
    CVC. This represented the most badges issued by the Russell Appointment
    Desk in its history.

                          saa deg.DOORKEEPERS

    Facilitating the Needs of the Senate
        Our Doorkeepers play an important role in supporting the Senate.
    This group of dedicated professionals remains on call to assist the
    Senate when needed. A primary role of our Doorkeepers is to support the
    Senate Chamber by providing access to those with Senate Floor
    privileges and enforcing the rules of the Senate. Additionally, our
    Doorkeeper team facilitates the needs of Senators, Senate Floor staff,
    and pages.
        The past 4 years have been extraordinary in that the Senate has
    been in session an average of 181 days from 2007 through 2010. This
    represents a 21 percent increase to the 150 average numbers of days the
    Senate was in session from 1996 through 2006.
        Our Doorkeepers provided exceptional support for special events
    during 2010, including the swearing-in of Senators elected during 2010
    and the re-enactment that followed in the Old Senate Chamber; Senator
    Byrd's laying in repose in the Senate Chamber; the confirmation of
    Supreme Court Justice Kagan; and the impeachment trials of Samuel B.
    Kent and G. Thomas Porteous.
        Our Doorkeepers facilitate the movement and seating of Senators
    during joint sessions of the Congress conducted in the House of
    Representatives. During 2010 there were two joint sessions:
      --the President's State of the Union Address; and
      --the Joint meeting of the Congress with the President of Mexico.
        Congressional tributes and Congressional Gold Medal ceremonies also
    require the services of Doorkeepers. In the past year, Doorkeepers
    facilitated Senators and guests for the 50th Anniversary of the
    Inaugural Address of President John F. Kennedy; Days of Remembrance;
    moment of silence in the Senate Galleries and on the House of
    Representatives steps in honor of the victims of the tragedy in Tucson,
    Arizona; Celebration of the Life of Congressman John Murtha;
    recognition of contributions of enslaved African Americans to the
    construction of the United States Capitol; September 11 Congressional
    Remembrance Ceremony; Peace Officers Memorial Day; and Women Service
    Pilots Congressional Gold Medal ceremony.
    Improving the Senate Gallery Visitor Experience
        We improved the visitor experience for those who want to witness
    Senate proceedings from the Gallery. We now process these guests
    through the CVC, rather than through the Capitol's north door. This
    process enhancement improved security, as well as the visitor
    experience, by eliminating the long lines and congestion that had been
    commonplace throughout the Capitol prior to the opening of the CVC. Our
    Senate Doorkeepers manage a staging room in the CVC that facilitates
    the collection of prohibited items and the movement of people in a
    secure and efficient manner. The staging room and the surrounding areas
    offer our guests numerous comforts and educational opportunities.
        Last year, 224,925 visitors viewed the Senate Chamber from the
    Senate Gallery. 2010 represented the first full year since 2000 that
    the Senate Gallery was open for visitors during scheduled Senate
    recesses. We reopened the Senate Gallery during scheduled recesses
    beginning with the August 2009 recess and, since then, more than 90,000
    visitors have viewed the Senate Chamber from the Senate Gallery.
    Reopening the Gallery has provided an opportunity for thousands, who
    under the previous rule would not have enjoyed the opportunity to see
    the ``world's greatest deliberative body.'' Our Gallery remains open
    during scheduled recesses for 2011.
        The feedback that we have received from Senate Gallery visitors has
    been extremely positive. Senate Gallery visitors have complimented our
    processes, including the elimination of long lines, waiting in the
    elements, the speed of gaining access to the Gallery and the
    educational opportunities afforded by the CVC.
    Leveraging Existing Resources
        The year 2010 proved to be one of the busiest and demanding in the
    history of the Senate Doorkeepers. Our Doorkeepers' work is yet another
    example where our process improvements and solid management principles
    have enabled us to do more with existing resources. Our Doorkeepers
    were able to make significant improvements with minimal expense and
    without additional employees.
        Despite the increases in workload--the 21 percent increase in the
    average number of days the Senate has been in session for the past 4
    years, the 70 percent increase in the footprint covered by Doorkeeper
    staff due to the opening of the CVC, and the increased number of
    special events and ceremonies requiring Doorkeeper support--we were
    able to improve our performance by utilizing existing resources,
    redefining our work processes, and refining our Doorkeepers' job
    descriptions.

                    saa deg.SENATE RECORDING STUDIO

    Expanded Broadcast Capability
        Our Senate Recording Studio was one of the first departments to
    move into the CVC. Our facility has received accolades from guests
    since its opening, including Senate leadership, Senators, and Senate
    staff. The convenience of the studio's location and proximity to the
    Senate Floor and Senate subway system provides convenience to Senators
    and staff.
        The studio is responsible for providing gavel-to-gavel coverage of
    Senate floor proceedings, broadcasting Senate committee hearings, and
    providing radio and television production studios and equipment for
    Senators' use. In 2010 represented another busy year for the recording
    studio. Last year, we provided 1,078 hours of gavel-to-gavel coverage
    of Senate Floor proceedings. We provided broadcast coverage of 723
    Senate committee hearings and 1,074 radio productions. Additionally,
    our team of seasoned professionals produced 1,066 shows for Senators
    from our television studios.
        The number of studio productions increased by 5 percent due largely
    to our Recording Studio producing the Democratic Media Center and
    Republican Conference shows while their respective studios were being
    renovated.
    Groundbreaking Firsts
        This past year our recording studio broke new ground when we
    provided the land-based production and engineering support for an
    Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
    Subcommittee hearing which included a live videoconference with
    astronauts aboard the International Space Station.
        Another first for our recording studio was the Internet simulcast
    of a Senate Washington, DC event to all Senate staff who wanted to
    participate, including State office personnel. In the aftermath of the
    Tucson shooting tragedy, my office conducted a security briefing to
    provide an interactive forum for all participants and attendees. This
    capability facilitated our ability to answer questions and provide
    updated information to Member offices throughout the United States.
    Committee Hearing Room Upgrade Project
        Demand for additional committee broadcasts has been ever
    increasing. In 2003, we began working with this subcommittee and the
    Committee on Rules and Administration to upgrade and install multimedia
    equipment in Senate committee rooms. The project includes digital
    signal processing audio systems and broadcast-quality robotic camera
    systems. The Committee Hearing Room Upgrade Project continued during
    2010.
        To date, we have completed 30 rooms. Room enhancements include
    improved speech intelligibility and software-based systems that we can
    configure based on individual committee needs. The system is networked,
    which gives committee staff the ability to easily and automatically
    route audio from one hearing room to another when there are overflow
    crowds. Additionally, the system's backup will take over quickly if the
    primary electronics fail.
    Reducing Costs by Leveraging Technology
        As part of the upgrades, we installed technologies in our new
    Recording Studio space in the CVC to enhance our ability to provide
    broadcast coverage of more hearings simultaneously without adding
    staff. For example, the Committee Hearing Room Upgrade Project allows
    us to cover a hearing with only one employee. Before the upgrades,
    three employees were required to adequately cover a single hearing.
    These technology enhancements, coupled with the expansion of the number
    of control rooms for committee broadcasts to 12, have enabled us to
    increase our simultaneous broadcast coverage of committee hearings from
    5 to as many as 12 without increasing our staff.
        Our Senate Recording Studio is another shining example of where we
    have enhanced our services and increased our productivity by utilizing
    process improvements and technology, rather than increasing our staff.

                        saa deg.MEDIA GALLERIES

        The four Senate Media Galleries comprise the Senate Daily Press
    Gallery:
      --the Senate Periodical Press Gallery;
      --the Press Photographers' Gallery; and
      --the Senate Radio and Television Gallery.
        The unique structure of the four Media Galleries requires them to
    work closely with their respective Standing and Executive
    Correspondent's Committees, the Senate SAA, the USCP, and the Senate
    Committee on Rules and Administration in order to facilitate media
    arrangements and credentials for the more than 7,000 credentialed media
    who cover Senators, Senate committees, and related media events.
        In recent years the media industry has seen historic shifts in
    formats and structures of media outlets which appear to have caused a
    general decline in revenue and circulation for traditional media.
    However, the Media Galleries have seen a burgeoning population of new
    and emerging media. The staff of the Media Galleries has diligently
    worked to accommodate this new population through the current
    credentialing process.
        The growth of 24-hour news channels and Web sites has increased the
    demand for constant news. As a result, the Congress is being covered in
    more detail than ever before. In response to the changing needs of the
    reporters covering Capitol Hill, all four Media Galleries worked with
    the office of the SAA Chief Information Officer to upgrade their
    technical infrastructure including incorporating wi-fi in all four
    Media Galleries.
    Senate Daily Press Gallery
        During 2009, a complete remodeling and rewiring of the Daily Press
    Gallery was completed. This was the first such renovation since the
    early 1980s. Restoring the suite of rooms that has been occupied by the
    press since before the Civil War was a mammoth undertaking that
    involved a number of SAA and AOC offices. Furniture was replaced, wires
    were completely redone, and the walls, ornate ceilings, Minton-tiled
    floors, and historic mirrors were completely restored down to the
    smallest detail. The renovation improved the gallery's appearance and
    working conditions for reporters.
        The past 2 years have been extraordinarily busy for the Daily Press
    Gallery. There are more reporters covering the Senate on a daily basis
    than ever. Organizations are covering the Senate in more detail than
    ever, with a constant demand for new information. As a result, our
    gallery is one of the busiest places in the Capitol complex. This year,
    the gallery was constantly filled with reporters covering issues.
        Our Daily Press Gallery staff keeps busy providing the swelling
    ranks of reporters with background information; monitoring Senate floor
    activities and schedule changes; preparing for big events and
    ceremonies; researching and assessing the flood of new credential
    applicants in conjunction with the Standing Committee of
    Correspondents; monitoring and assisting with access on the Capitol's
    second floor and other places where news is breaking; facilitating
    coverage of major hearings, answering press inquiries on legislation,
    floor action, parliamentary procedure; and generally assisting the
    press in covering the Congress, and assisting Senators and staff in
    making information available to the public.
        In addition to those basic duties, we implemented a new paperless
    credentialing system, updated continuity of operations and emergency
    preparedness plans, and put the finishing touches on a very successful
    Gallery renovation.
    Senate Periodical Press Gallery
        While high-profile hearings garner the most attention by staff and
    media, the Senate periodical staff always strives to work with all
    Senate committees on their media arrangements for typical hearings and
    events. Senate Periodical Press Gallery staff worked with new committee
    and Senators' press secretaries in order to familiarize them with the
    Periodical Gallery's functions at committee hearings. Constant
    collaboration occurs allowing various Senate committees to set up media
    arrangements for a number of widely viewed hearings, including
    confirmation hearings for all Presidential nominations, Senate budget
    consideration, and Senate Appropriations Committee events.
    Press Photographers' Gallery
        The primary role of the Press Photographers Gallery is to
    credential photographers and to assist at news events at the Senate.
    Our staff also has the unique responsibility of assisting at-large news
    events and hearings in the House of Representatives.
        The demand for news images has increased as Web publications expand
    and gain popularity. Also, deadlines for pictures have shifted from
    daily to immediate as organizations and publications strive to have the
    latest pictures available for online publications. These radical
    changes in how events are captured have increased the number of
    photographers covering Capitol Hill on a daily basis. The Press
    Photographers' Gallery has responded to these challenges by enhancing
    the technology infrastructure for gallery members.
    Senate Radio and Television Gallery
        In an effort to address new requirements for electronic media
    coverage of Senate events, improvements were made in upgrading the
    technical infrastructure of Senate committee hearing rooms and other
    news event locations throughout the Senate campus. For example, in a
    collaborative effort with the Senate Committee on Rules and
    Administration, gallery staff oversaw the installation of fiber optic
    cable in 14 Senate committee rooms. Several meeting rooms in the
    Capitol and the Senate wing of the CVC were also outfitted with fiber
    optic cable.
        In 2009, the backdrop in the Senate Radio-TV Gallery studio was
    renovated to accommodate high-definition news broadcasts. The improved
    backdrop enhances Senators' appearance by incorporating several
    enriching elements such as columns and LED lighting.
        We improved this Gallery's work areas during the past year as well.
    The Radio-Television Gallery staff worked collaboratively with the
    Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, AOC, and media
    representatives to upgrade media connectivity in the Russell Rotunda
    media area. This team also led the efforts to completely renovate the
    Radio-Television Gallery mezzanine workspace which included modern
    workstations and updated infrastructure.
            saa deg.senate office of education and training
        The Senate Office of Education and Training provides training and
    development opportunities for Senate staff in Washington, DC and the
    States. There are two branches within the office:
      --the Education and Training branch; and
      --the Health Promotion branch.
        The Education and Training branch provides training opportunities
    for all Senate staff in areas including management and leadership
    development, human resources issues and staff benefits, legislative and
    staff information, new staff and intern information, and training
    support for approved software packages and equipment used in
    Washington, DC and State offices. This branch also coordinates and
    provides major training events for State and DC staff.
        Training and education is provided through instructor-led classes;
    one-on-one coaching sessions; specialized vendor provided training;
    Internet and computer-based training; webinars; video teleconferencing;
    informal training and support services; documentation, job aides and
    quickcards.
        The Health Promotion branch provides seminars, classes and
    screenings on health and wellness issues. This branch also coordinates
    an annual Health Fair for all Senate employees and plans blood drives
    every year.
    Capitol Hill Training
        The Office of Education and Training offered 1,278 classes and
    events in 2010, drawing more than 10,000 participants. This office's
    registration desk handled more than 25,000 email and phone requests for
    training and documentation.
        The above total includes 438 customized training sessions for 1,937
    staff members. These sessions ranged from in-depth training of Senate
    office system administrators to conflict resolution and organizational
    development. We provide individual consultation on Web site development
    and office systems training. We provided resume and interviewing skills
    building after the deaths and retirements of numerous Senators.
        The Senate's Intern Program is also a focus of the office. We
    provide training for intern coordinators as well as five orientation
    and training sessions for approximately 500 interns.
        Annually, we provide a Senate Services Expo for Senate office
    staff. This year we had 35 presenters from the offices of the Secretary
    of the Senate, SAA, AOC, USCP, and the Library of Congress providing an
    overview of their services to 250 staff. This is part of the
    orientation for new staff and the aides to the Senators-elect. This
    past November we held seven orientation sessions which were attended by
    30 aides.
    State Office Training
        The Office of Education and Training provided 85 learning
    opportunities to State offices for which 2,813 State staff registered.
    Our office continues to offer the State Training Fair Program and video
    teleconferencing and webinars as a means to train State staff. In 2010,
    two sessions of the State Training Fairs were attended by 63 State
    staff. We also conducted the State Directors Forum, which was attended
    by 62 State administrative managers and directors and a Constituent
    Services Forum attended by 43 State staff. We also provided advanced
    all staff meeting facilitation to more than 20 offices that were
    attended by more than 650 staff. Additionally, the office offered 33
    video teleconferencing classes, for which 1,707 State staff registered
    and we offered 28 webinars that were attended by 288.
        We provide sources of Internet-based training covering technical,
    professional and language skills. This allows staff in both DC and
    State offices to take training at their convenience. To date, 692 DC
    and State staff have registered and accessed 1,534 different lessons
    and publications using this training option. Education and Training
    also provides 54 Senate-specific self-paced lessons that have been
    accessed more than 3,200 times.
    Health Promotion
        In the Health Promotion area, 3,070 staff participated in 56 health
    promotion activities throughout the year. These activities included
    lung function and kidney screenings, eight blood drives, the Health and
    Fitness Day and seminars on health-related topics and the Annual Senate
    Health Fair. We also coordinate Weight Watchers, Yoga, and Pilates
    sessions using the revolving fund for health promotion. There were 11
    sessions that had 266 attendees.
               saa deg.employee assistance program (eap)
        Our EAP offered a variety of services to staff, Pages, interns, and
    family members. In 2010, 3.8 percent of Senate employees and/or their
    family members met with/spoke to an EAP counselor, 187 employees took a
    mental health on-line screening, 2,614 employees attended an EAP
    training activity, and 1,416 employees accessed resources for
    personalized information and referrals for childcare and parenting,
    adult care and aging, education, legal, and financial concerns.
        The EAP expanded outreach programs through updating materials on a
    wide variety of mental health topics; providing an interactive and
    informative Web page that includes confidential mental health
    screenings, an increased number of self-paced training modules and
    access to mental health, management and trauma response resources; and
    offering a variety of time- and community-sensitive training programs,
    including video teleconferencing training programs for State offices.
    The EAP continued to hone, expand, and utilize the skills of the 29
    members of the Senate Peer Support Team through a series of
    presentations, trainings, and informational lectures.

           saa deg.APPENDIX--FISCAL YEAR 2012 BUDGET REQUEST

                      FINANCIAL PLAN FOR FISCAL YEAR 2012

              Office of the Sergeant at Arms--United States Senate

                                                    EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
                                                 [Dollars in thousands]
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                        Fiscal year 2012 vs. fiscal
                                                                                                 year 2011
                                                        Fiscal year     Fiscal year  -------------------------------
                                                        2011 budget    2012 request                      Increase/
                                                                                          Amount         decrease
                                                                                                       (percentage)
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    General operations and maintenance:
        Salaries....................................         $76,846         $77,588            $742            +1.0
        Expenses....................................          86,067          84,429         (1,638)            -1.9
                                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------
          Total, general operations and maintenance.         162,913         162,017           (896)            -0.5
                                                     ===============================================================
    Mandated allowances and allotments..............          50,174          49,663           (511)            -1.0
    Capital investment..............................             700             684            (16)            -2.3
    Nondiscretionary items..........................           5,175           6,812           1,637           +31.6
                                                     ---------------------------------------------------------------
          Total.....................................         218,962         219,176             214            +0.1
                                                     ===============================================================
    Staffing                                                     956             956  ..............  ..............
    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        To ensure that we provide the highest levels and quality of
    security, support services, and equipment, we submit a fiscal year 2012
    budget request of $219,176,000, an increase of $214,000 or 0.1 percent
    compared to fiscal year 2011. The salary budget request is $77,588,000,
    an increase of $742,000 or 1 percent, and the expense budget request is
    $141,588,000, a decrease of $528,000 or 0.4 percent. The staffing
    request remains flat at 956.
        We present our budget in four categories:
      --general operations and maintenance (salaries and expenses);
      --mandated allowances and allotments;
      --capital investment; and
      --nondiscretionary items.
        The general operations and maintenance salaries budget request is
    $77,588,000, an increase of $742,000 or 1 percent compared to fiscal
    year 2011. The salary budget increase is due to merit funding and other
    adjustments.
        The general operations and maintenance expenses budget request for
    existing and new services is $84,429,000, a decrease of $1,638,000 or
    1.9 percent compared to fiscal year 2011.
        The mandated allowances and allotments budget request is
    $49,663,000, a decrease of $511,000 or 1 percent compared to fiscal
    year 2011. This budget supports State office rents, $18,815,000;
    purchase of computer and office equipment, $13,894,000; voice and data
    communications for Washington, DC and State offices, $12,301,000;
    procurement and maintenance of office equipment for Member office
    constituent services systems, $4,500,000; State office security
    enhancements, $1,913,000; and wireless services and equipment,
    $1,500,000.
        The capital investment budget request is $684,000, a decrease of
    $16,000 or 2.3 percent compared to fiscal year 2011. The fiscal year
    2012 budget request includes funds for the Senate Chamber remote
    broadcast system replacement, $484,000; and data networking initiatives
    and expansions, $200,000.
        The nondiscretionary items budget request is $6,812,000, an
    increase of $1,637,000 or 31.6 percent compared to fiscal year 2011.
    The request funds projects that support the Secretary of the Senate:
    contract maintenance for the Financial Management Information System,
    $3,770,000; support for the payroll system, $2,182,000; and maintenance
    and necessary enhancements to the Legislative Information System,
    $860,000.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Chief Morse.

                          UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE

    STATEMENT OF PHILLIP D. MORSE, SR., CHIEF
        Chief Morse. Thank you, Chairman Nelson, Ranking Member
    Hoeven, and members of the subcommittee. I'm honored to be here
    today, and I appreciate the opportunity to present the USCP
    budget for fiscal year 2012.
        I would like to request that my written testimony be
    entered into the record.
        Senator Nelson. It will be entered.
        Chief Morse. I would also like to thank the subcommittee
    for its sustained and unwavering support for the men and women
    of the USCP. Specifically, I would like to express our
    appreciation to the subcommittee, and the Congress, for
    providing the necessary salaries and general expenses funding
    for 2011 to support our personnel and operations.
        As I begin my testimony, I would like to emphasize that my
    management team and I are keenly aware of the economic
    situation our Nation faces today. I understand the
    responsibility I have to submit a budget request that is not
    only accurate, but is reasonable and based on the critical
    requirements necessary to mitigate and address threats and
    risks. The department's fiscal year 2012 budget request, after
    adjusting the fiscal year 2011 appropriated levels, totals $380
    million, and represents an overall increase of 12 percent. The
    department's fiscal year 2012 personnel request reflects our
    continuous efforts, at all levels of management, to effectively
    manage our existing resources to achieve the best possible
    balance of staff-to-mission requirements.
        With that in mind, our requested fiscal year 2012 personnel
    costs support the current authorized staffing levels of 2,243
    positions, as well as a request for three new civilian
    positions for the Office of Inspector General (IG). We're
    requesting an overall increase of 8 percent more than the
    fiscal year 2011 enacted funding level, with rescission.
        We have been very strategic in our hiring of civilian
    positions to best align our resources to our needs. In
    particular, we identified, through a position review, 22
    existent vacant civilian positions for repurposing to meet our
    additional mission requirements, such as the 9 sworn officers
    needed for the security of the new Federal Office Building 8
    (FOB8) and 13 civilian dispatcher positions needed for the
    radio project and mirror site requirements; at current staffing
    levels, the department's fiscal year 2012 overtime projection
    of approximately $36,500,000, to include support for the fiscal
    year 2012 political conventions and pre-Inauguration security
    planning, along with support for Library of Congress (LOC)
    nonreimbursable events, and overtime necessary to secure
    multiyear projects, to include the Capitol Dome skirt and the
    utility tunnel projects.
        The second area of detail is an overall net increase in our
    requested general expenses budget, which is an overall increase
    of 29 percent more than the fiscal year 2011 funding levels.
    The majority of the increase is attributed to the new
    initiatives to address identified threats and risks and for
    support of the 2012 political conventions and Presidential
    Inauguration planning. The increase in the request, just for
    normal annual needs of the Department, excluding the new
    initiatives and convention pre-Inauguration support, is about 5
    percent.
        The seven new initiatives included in our request address
    security and law enforcement services for FOB8; security
    enhancements for the alternate computer facility; security
    designs for utility tunnel systems; design and installation of
    security programs for the Capitol Dome skirt rehabilitation;
    design and installation of security management systems within
    the House and Senate parking garages; software upgrades for the
    Department's fixed-asset management; and departmentwide travel
    management systems. The total funding request for these
    initiatives is $11.8 million.
        With the direct assistance of the USCP Board, we provided
    advisors to assess financial management risk and to provide
    recommended improvements, as well as the oversight
    recommendations of the USCP IG. We have the foundation for
    sound fiscal practices, to include sound budget formulation
    that we are actively implementing and will continuously seek to
    improve.
        In particular, I'm pleased to report that we recently
    closed all eight audit findings related to the U.S. IG's audit
    of the Department's budget formulation process. Further, we're
    working on the resolution of a number of other recommendations
    in order to achieve efficiency and effectiveness in our
    administrative programs. The long-term resolution of the
    recommendations related to internal controls, business
    processes, and material weaknesses remain the highest
    importance to our management team.

                               PREPARED STATEMENT

        Finally, I'd like to thank all the men and women of the
    USCP, both sworn and civilian, for their dedicated service and
    their sacrifice to keep us all safe this past year.
        I appreciate the opportunity, today, that you've given me.
    And I'd be happy to answer any questions that you may have.
        [The statement follows:]

                  Prepared Statement of Phillip D. Morse, Sr.

        Chairman Nelson, Ranking Member Hoeven and members of the
    subcommittee, I am honored to be here today, and I appreciate the
    opportunity to present the United States Capitol Police (USCP) budget
    request for fiscal year 2012.
        First, I would like to thank the subcommittee for its sustained and
    unwavering support for the men and women of the USCP. You and your
    staffs have continued to generously support both our mission as well as
    our personnel--not just in a monetary way, but also in private and
    public recognition of our role and responsibilities. The security and
    protection of this great institution is not only our job, but we
    consider it a sacred duty and privilege to serve you, the congressional
    staff, and the millions of visitors from every corner of the world who
    come to the United States Capitol Complex every year. Due in large part
    to your support and that of the Capitol Police Board, the Department
    has had many successes in its continued efforts to become a premier
    security and law enforcement agency operating under established
    controls and efficiencies.
        Specifically, I would like to express our appreciation to the
    subcommittee and the Congress for providing the necessary salaries and
    general expenses funding for fiscal year 2011 to support our personnel
    and operations.
        This fiscal year 2011 appropriation level has allowed the
    Department to address critical salaries requirements, as well as Radio
    Modernization Project (RMP) needs, in fiscal year 2011, which thus
    results in a reduction of those items from our fiscal year 2012 budget
    request.
        As I begin my testimony, I would like to emphasize that my
    management team and I are keenly aware of the economic situation our
    Nation faces today. I understand the responsibility I have to submit a
    budget request that is not only accurate, but that is reasonable, based
    on only critical requirements necessary to mitigate and address threats
    and risks. Our fiscal year adjusted 2012 budget request provides for
    those mission-critical requirements necessary for the Department to
    address the security of the Congress, so that it may conduct it's
    constitutional responsibilities in an open and safe manner without
    disruption from crime or terrorism.
        Our mission-focused request is grounded in the USCP strategic goals
    that describe our mission and frame our budget planning:
      --assessing the threat to the Capitol community;
      --taking proactive measures to mitigate the threat so as to prevent
            disruption to the legislative process;
      --responding in the event of a disruption so that the Congress can
            continue to operate; and
      --supporting the USCP's mission through constructive internal
            business processes and controls that foster effective and
            efficient mission delivery.
        This budget is strong in support of those goals--with modest
    increases and initiatives to address identified risks and threats--yet
    it is flexible enough to achieve and maintain solid mission-critical
    results with efficient use of resources.
        The proposed fiscal year 2012 budget will address and mitigate
    identified security challenges that may potentially affect the safety
    of the Capitol Complex and our ability to keep up with the changing
    security environment and threat level. In addition, it contains
    requests for a few new initiatives that provide additional security for
    the Capitol Complex and it provides administrative systems to mitigate
    audit risks and findings.
        The Department's funding levels have grown in recent years, due to
    requirements set forth to support an expanding mission load. In the
    last several years, we have merged with the Library of Congress (LOC)
    police while absorbing the jurisdiction over LOC buildings and grounds,
    and upon the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center; we assumed
    additional protection responsibilities for the security operations of
    this critical addition to the Capitol. We will also be gaining an
    additional protective responsibility with the opening of the Federal
    Office Building 8 (FOB8) scheduled to reopen in fiscal year 2012. An
    additional fiscal dynamic we are managing is our implementation of a
    complex RMP.
        At this time, I would like to offer the subcommittee an overarching
    summary of our fiscal year 2012 request. I will follow this summary
    with a discussion of specific budget items of particular significance
    to you and the Department.
        The Department's fiscal year 2012 request totals $380 million and
    represents an overall increase of 12 percent, or $40 million more than
    the fiscal year 2011 enacted level with a rescission funding level of
    $340 million.
        The first subject area that I would like to provide more detail for
    is in the area of personnel salaries and overtime.
        The Department's fiscal year 2012 personnel request reflects our
    continuous efforts at all levels of management to effectively manage
    our existing resources to achieve the best possible balance of staff-
    to-mission requirements. We are constantly analyzing our workforce to
    align job functions, assignments, workload, risk management, and
    organizational readiness along with the ever-changing threat
    assessments and mandatory mission requirements of a dynamic
    Congressional community.
        To operate within our current budget, we are currently carrying out
    our mission requirements with 1,775 of our 1,800 sworn positions, below
    our authorized 443 civilian positions, and with only limited training.
    We have received funding in fiscal year 2011 to increase our sworn
    levels to 1,800 at the end of the fiscal year, and to bring on an
    additional 13 civilians as well, but this partial year funding for
    these positions will need to be annualized in fiscal year 2012 in order
    to maintain this staffing strength. Much of our overall increase allows
    the Department to operate at our current authorized staffing levels.
        With regard to our funding request related to personnel, we are
    requesting an overall increase of 8 percent more than the fiscal year
    2011 enacted funding levels with rescission, which includes funding for
    only three new civilian positions for the Office of the Inspector
    General (OIG). The increase in 9 new sworn positions to address the
    additional operational requirements for FOB8 is offset by a net
    reduction of 9 civilian positions from within the Department current
    authorized strength of 443.
        Additionally, we have been very strategic in the hiring of civilian
    positions to best align our resources to our needs. In particular, we
    identified 22 existing vacant civilian positions based on a position
    review for repurposing to meet additional mission requirements such as,
    the 9 sworn officers needed for the security of the new FOB8 and 13
    civilian dispatcher positions needed for the RMP mirror site
    requirements.
        The Department's current authorized sworn strength does not
    entirely provide the necessary resources to meet all our mission
    requirements within the established sworn officer utility or the number
    of work-hours in a year that each officer is available to perform work.
    This ``utility'' number is used to determine overall staffing
    requirements, and balances the utility of available staff with annual
    salary and overtime funding along with known mission requirements such
    as postcoverage, projected unscheduled events such as demonstrations,
    late sessions, holiday concerts, et cetera, and unfunded requirements
    that occur after the budget is enacted, such as unforeseen critical
    emergency situations.
        Thus, mission requirements in excess of available personnel must be
    addressed through the use of overtime, identification of efficiencies
    such as postrealignment and/or reductions, technology, and cutbacks
    within the utility, such as reductions in the number of hours provided
    for training. As a result, our oversight committees are reviewing such
    options to offset mission requirements where possible, such as closing
    lower-priority doors, which will reduce the total hours at posts and
    overtime costs.
        With that in mind, our requested fiscal year 2012 personnel costs
    support the current authorized staffing levels of 2,243 positions, as
    well as a request for 3 new civilian positions for the OIG. This will
    result in the increase of 3 personnel (from 2,243 to 2,246), while
    absorbing the mission requirements associated with FOB8 security and
    the dispatch operations.
        At current staffing levels, the Department's fiscal year 2012 basic
    overtime projection of approximately $33.9 million reflects an increase
    more than the $32 million that was provided for in fiscal year 2011
    with rescission.
        Other requested increases to overtime include an additional
    $215,000 in funding to cover LOC's nonreimbursable events, and $2.4
    million for overtime necessary to secure multi-year AOC initiatives, to
    include the Capitol Dome skirt, and utility tunnel projects. These
    items bring the total fiscal year 2012 overtime request to $36.5
    million which is an increase of $4.5 million.
        The second area of detail is an overall net increase in our
    requested general expenses budget, which includes protective travel;
    hiring, outfitting, and training of new sworn personnel; supplies and
    equipment; management systems; et cetera. While we are requesting an
    overall increase of 29 percent more than the fiscal year 2011 funding
    levels, the majority of the increase request is for new initiatives to
    address identified threats and risks, and for support of the 2012
    political conventions and Presidential Inauguration planning. The
    increase in the request, just for the normal annual needs of the
    Department, excluding new initiatives, and convention and pre-
    Inauguration support, is 5 percent.
        These seven new initiatives include:
      --security and law enforcement services for FOB8;
      --security enhancements for the Alternate Computer Facility;
      --security designs for the utility tunnel system;
      --design and installation of a security program for the Capitol Dome
            Skirt Rehabilitation project;
      --design and installation of security management systems within House
            and Senate parking garages;
      --software upgrades for the Department's fixed asset system; and
      --a Department-wide travel management system.
        The total funding requested for these new initiatives is $11.8
    million.
        Finally, we are requesting $3 million in general expense funding to
    support the 2012 political conventions and pre-Inauguration planning.
        With your support, the Department continues to successfully perform
    our operational mission and has achieved several key accomplishments
    over the last year that have resulted in greater efficiencies for the
    Department, which include addressing several administrative challenges
    and improving corresponding business practices.
        Operationally, so far this fiscal year, the Department has screened
    more than 3 million visitors to the Capitol Complex; affected more than
    200 arrests; conducted more than 75,000 K-9 sweeps; and screened nearly
    6,500 vehicles. In fiscal year 2010, the Department screened more than
    10 million visitors, affected more than 700 arrests; and conducted more
    than 160,000 K-9 sweeps. These are just a few examples of the many
    operational elements that are conducted daily to ensure the success of
    the Department's core mission.
        With the direct assistance of the Capitol Police Board, who
    provided advisors to assess financial management risks and to provide
    recommended improvements, we have the foundation for sound fiscal
    practices that we are actively implementing and will continuously seek
    to improve upon.
        Included in the sound fiscal practices recommended by the OIG
    through his budget formulation audit and the Board's financial advisors
    through their review of our financial management operations are the
    practices and processes we conducted to create the fiscal year 2012
    budget.
        The Department re-implemented an improved management and budget
    planning methodology which we call the ``Force Development Process''.
    It provides for a transparent decisionmaking process, including reviews
    and approvals by an Investment Review Board made up of key agency
    management, and provides a structure that is results-driven and based
    on meeting operational needs. We also formalized a process for program
    evaluations for selected existing programs, which we plan to expand for
    the fiscal year 2013 process. In addition, in order to ensure the
    accuracy of our budget request, this fiscal year 2012 budget went
    through multiple layers of review and validation by internal and
    external parties, and is traceable to supporting documentation for each
    budget element.
        Additionally, by transitioning our primary vehicle fleet to a
    General Services Administration (GSA)-based fleet leasing program, we
    now have a consistent 5-year life-cycle replacement plan, which saves
    taxpayer dollars over purchasing these primary fleet vehicles, reduces
    repair costs, gives us a predictable annual funding requirement and
    allows us to maintain a consistent state of operational readiness. In
    an effort to take advantage of cross servicing within the legislative
    branch, we also successfully migrated our financial management system
    to the LOC, which saves the Department not just in annual operational
    costs, but in future software upgrade costs through economies of scale
    within the legislative branch. Finally, as a result of programmatic
    efficiencies that enabled the reduction of 11 Hazardous Materials
    Response Team positions, we were able to use those vacant civilian
    positions for security control operators to monitor our alarm system
    which was previously handled by contractors. As a result, the security
    control positions were filled by utilizing USCP employees previously
    transferred to the Department of Labor (DOL) due to worker's
    compensation issues. Overall, this transformation allowed the
    Department to better use available resources to more efficiently
    achieve an operational requirement by returning employees to productive
    work, which allowed us to eliminate a $1.2 million contract for the
    previously contracted-operators and reduce our workers compensation
    charge backs to the DOL by returning employees to duty.
        Further, we continue our work to close audit recommendations and to
    address our material weaknesses from prior audits by working closely
    with our OIG and the Government Accountability Office to address issues
    which have arisen and by providing the evidence necessary to close
    findings. In particular, I am pleased to report that we recently closed
    all eight audit findings related to the USCP OIG's audit of the
    Department's budget formulation process. Further, we are working on the
    resolution of a number of other recommendations in order to achieve
    efficiency and effectiveness of our administrative programs. The long-
    term resolution of recommendations related to internal controls,
    business processes and material weaknesses remain of the highest
    importance to our management team.
        As I mentioned in the beginning of my testimony, we are well aware
    of and understand the economic climate that affects our country, the
    legislative branch and the entire Federal Government, and I want to
    assure you that the USCP will successfully adapt our resources and
    continue to safeguard the Congressional community.
        I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today and would
    be glad to answer any questions you may have at this time.

        Senator Nelson. Thank you, Chief Morse. And thank you all.
        If it's okay, we can try 6-minute rounds of questions. And
    it looks like we'll--maybe I'll just finish that about the time
    the vote is called.
        Ms. Erickson, the fiscal year 2011 enacted level of funding
    for your office included the $4.2 million associated with the
    transfer of the SIS program. Your budget request for fiscal
    year 2012 includes the same level of funding for the SIS
    program. Can you update the subcommittee on the progress being
    made on the transfer of the SIS from the SAA to your office?
    And have you identified any improvements or efficiencies that
    you can find in the implementation of the system?
        Ms. Erickson. Well, the transition has gone very smoothly.
    And I think it's important to remind the subcommittee that the
    idea behind the SIS program was to make the services more
    efficient and cost effective for the Senate. Prior to 2000,
    each office was appropriated a sum of money to purchase online
    subscriptions. And a decision was made, by this subcommittee
    and the Rules Committee, to have one entity be the negotiator
    for these subscriptions, which can be quite costly, as you
    know.
        As part of our education and outreach efforts to Senate
    staff, I think it's fair to say that it was a surprise to some
    of the office administrators that we provided some of these
    services, and that offices were purchasing duplicate
    subscriptions. I think that you'll see some Senate offices will
    achieve cost savings by canceling these subscriptions and
    relying on SIS services.
        Last year, we had a surplus of 0.05 percent. And, with the
    0.2 percent rescission, it cut that amount roughly by half.
    We're currently entering a new procurement stage, and I'm
    pleased to report that we had recommended, based on usage
    statistics, to the Senate Rules Committee, that we eliminate
    one of the service vendors. And they have approved our request.
    We'll see some minor cost savings on that front.
        So, needless to say, with a flat budget, there's not a lot
    of room for error as we enter the procurement negotiations.
    But, I'm hopeful that these services will be maintained,
    because they're valued and used by Senate staff.
        Senator Nelson. Your testimony touches on the fact that
    during fiscal year 2010, the Disbursing Office, in tandem with
    SAA technical support, began implementing a new payroll system.
    What is the status of that Senate payroll replacement project?
    You indicated that phase I should be completed during fiscal
    year 2012. What are the necessary steps? And is everything
    progressing? The status of the replacement projects is what
    we're after.
        Ms. Erickson. The implementation is going well. I will say,
    as you can imagine, anytime you're dealing with payroll, it is
    a high- stakes project. We've been having implementation
    sessions with the vendor who was selected to help with the
    implementation. I've met periodically with the implementation
    group. They meet every 2 weeks for what we call ``fit-gap''
    sessions. And I think it's fair to say that, so far, everything
    looks good. There's a great deal of work ahead of us.
        But, one thing that I was struck by in attending these
    sessions, is the relatively small number of people, not only
    from the Disbursing Office, but from Terry's shop, in payroll,
    who assist us every 2 weeks in getting the payroll out--the
    small group of people who are working on this project. And
    they're doing this job on top of their already very full-time
    duties of issuing payroll every 2 weeks. I'm pleased to report
    that everything is going well to date. And we will be sure to
    keep you and your staffs informed as we progress on the
    project.
        Senator Nelson. Okay. And what is the cost of the Senate
    Office Personnel System (SOPS)? And is that somehow tied to the
    payroll system? Is it more cost effective to do the personnel
    system in conjunction with the payroll system?
        Ms. Erickson. Sure.
        Senator Nelson [continuing]. In other words, are there
    additional costs associated with adding the personnel system
    later, rather than doing so now, as you're in the
    implementation phase?
        Ms. Erickson. The payroll project will be one that will
    take place in three phases. The first phase will be simply the
    replication of the current system, which we hope to have
    launched by February. The second phase of the project will
    include self-service options, which will allow Senate staff to,
    from their desktops, change their withholdings, their address.
    It will also mean the end of paper paycheck stubs that will be
    mailed to your offices. That will all be sent electronically.
    The third phase of the project will include the SOPS, or
    personnel system, for Senate offices.
        The SAA had asked the vendor who's helping us with the
    implementation, as well as an outside consultant, to do an
    analysis of the risks associated with doing the personnel
    system at the same time as the current payroll system. And they
    recommended that it was too high risk for us to implement at
    this time. So, that will be the third phase of this project.
        Senator Nelson. You mentioned what the new personnel system
    will offer the offices, among other things, interactive ability
    to change certain information would there be some other
    services that would come to the various Senate offices from
    that change?
        Ms. Erickson. Pardon.
        Senator Nelson. Would there be some other benefits, other
    than services, that will come to the Senate offices from this
    changeover?
        Ms. Erickson. Yes, there will. It'll be a much more
    efficient system. And I'd be happy to follow up with the
    subcommittee in more detail on some of the options that would--
    --
        Senator Nelson. Sure.
        Ms. Erickson [continuing]. Will be available.
        Senator Nelson. Okay. Thank you. I think that is my time.
        Senator Hoeven.
        Senator Hoeven. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Again, thank you for the hard work that you've done on
    these budgets. And, as you know, we're in challenging times,
    financially, in terms of the Federal budget. So, we're going to
    have to continue to work to find savings where we can. And in
    that effort, we've got our personnel costs, which, in all your
    cases, is obviously a very big part of your budget. It's very
    people intensive. And then we have other expenses. Anticipating
    that, we're going to have to continue to find savings, just
    based on what I expect the overall budget requirements to be,
    there's been discussion of even going back to 2008 funding
    levels.
        So, what I'd like to engage in a little bit is how we would
    go about finding some savings and how we would balance that
    between people and projects. Now, for both Secretary of the
    Senate, SAA, you essentially have flat budgets, and have been
    from, basically, 2010, 2011, now looking at 2012; in the case
    of the USCP, we need to talk a little bit about the 14 percent
    increase you are requesting. I recognize the need for security;
    and, of course, with the tragic event that occurred with
    Representative Gabrielle Giffords, we know that's not only a
    security issue here in Washington, DC, but around the country.
    So, we have to be mindful of those security requirements, too.
        But, let's start, if we could, with the Secretary of the
    Senate. In terms of people and projects now, if we have to hold
    these budgets flat, or even compress them further, talk a
    little bit in terms of what you're realistically able to do
    between people versus some of your other general expenses
    versus any kind of projects that you have going now. How would
    you start to--and I know it may be a little hard for you to get
    into specifics, but that's not what I'm looking for, so much as
    to how you would approach this budgeting process in that
    balance between people, general expenses, and project type
    costs.
        Ms. Erickson. Well, in terms of our operational budget,
    we'll be in great shape if you hold us to our 2008 level of
    funding. Our 2012 budget request is the same level as our 2008
    level of funding on the operations front. With respect to
    staffing, the Secretary of the Senate, over the years, has been
    capped at a level of 253 employees. And I'm pleased to say that
    I think that we're well--we're below that cap on purpose
    because I'm mindful that there may be statutory requirements
    that require me to add full-time equivalents to our budget. An
    example of that would be, in the last Congress there were two
    bills that were proposed, dealing with earmarks, and one that
    would have required us to hire staff who had budgetary
    expertise. I would have had to add staff to my budgets to do
    that.
        Every vacancy that we have, through retirement or
    attrition, we scrutinize carefully to make sure that it's
    necessary to fill it. And at the top of my head right now, I
    can think, in the last few months, that there are four
    vacancies that we currently have that we plan to, hopefully, do
    without by using existing staff.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay.
        Terry.
        Mr. Gainer. We've done some analysis of what it would take
    if we had to reduce the budget by 5, 7, or 10 percent, and then
    tried to analyze what we'd do, from a head count and operations
    perspective. And we do have plans in our mind, if we had to do
    that. I think the head count reduction would come through
    eventual attrition as you stop some programs. So, it is really
    the program area that we'd have to adjust to.
        And I'll give you some ``for-instances''. About 27 percent
    of our operational budget goes for the support of the State
    offices. So, when we've looked at reducing funding, generally
    it's something on the Hill that we change. And if we have to
    reduce substantially, I would really respectfully request, of
    this subcommittee and others, that we take a look at the 454
    offices that we have around the United States, and see if there
    isn't some cost-cutting we could do there. That is a
    substantial portion of our operational budget.
        But, when we look at expenses we've deferred much, as I've
    indicated. And at some point, that bill is going to come due
    potentially slowing things down. The turnover of getting new
    computers or buying new equipment could change dramatically.
    While we keep a high level of response to the Senate community
    to install a computer, move a computer, change a computer, all
    that could change, similar to what we've probably done in our
    own homes if it breaks down; we're not able to pick the phone
    up and have someone there in 15 minutes. So, if the Members and
    the staff could adjust to slower response times, there would be
    money to save. But, operating like that would eventually
    adversely impact your ability to interact with your
    constituents. But, we've at least planned out how we would do
    that, if push came to shove.
        Senator Hoeven. I think that you're thinking in the right
    terms, both of you. You know, we'll see what this number boils
    down to. I'm expecting we're going to end up with some top line
    number for 2012, at some point, here, maybe even as we go
    through these discussions with the administration, in terms of
    the whole debt ceiling issue. We may end up with some top line
    number. We'll see. And then, out of that top line number, of
    course, through the Appropriations Committee, then that puts us
    in a position to actually boil down numbers to some of these
    different budgets. It's tough, from the standpoint that we
    don't have a lot of dollars, obviously, and we're going to have
    to find savings. But, the good part is that we may then have a
    number to come back to you and say, ``Okay, we're going to have
    to try to, you know, live within certain numbers, but then
    you've got some ability to make those decisions.'' And we would
    do everything we could within that number, then, to try to help
    you make it work in the best way possible.
        I think some of the things that you talked about and
    identified-- whether they're exactly the right things to do, or
    not, is something we can work through--but, I think you're
    thinking exactly in the right terms, as far as how we would
    approach the challenge. And, like I said, I think we'll have a
    better idea of what that has to be, as we go forward.
        Chief, you know, obviously, with the security situation,
    that's a tough proposition. And I referenced Representative
    Giffords and the challenge that creates, not only for you, here
    in Washington, DC, but then around the country. How do we--with
    the need for security, not just for Members, but for the
    public--how are you going to approach this? Just start at a
    high level----
        Chief Morse. Sure.
        Senator Hoeven [continuing]. And then get down in some more
    specifics.

                   USCP deg.ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT

        Chief Morse. One thing we do when we formulate our budget
    is, we look at threat and risk. So, we do an environmental
    assessment, and then we do what's called ``force development.''
    We look at those risks and threats, and we look at what we
    currently do and what we may need to do.
        I'm going to give you one example of where--in the 2012
    budget, when you're looking at a program or operation, how we
    were able to meet a new mission, with respect to threat and
    risk, by not increasing the staffing level of our police
    department. What we did for the FOB8, where we needed eight
    additional officers, we scrubbed vacant civilian positions that
    we had not hired for yet. We reallocated those positions to
    fill those vacancies. That's an example of where we scrubbed a
    program, we were able to utilize vacant positions to reallocate
    for a new mission without asking for an increase in authorized
    strength.
        Another example of where we look at a program or operation
    is with respect to our truck interdiction and monitoring
    program. We've taken information technology, camera systems,
    and new technology, with respect to the lights and the
    intersections, and we will be able to reduce that program by
    reducing officers, reducing vehicles, which then becomes less
    maintenance, less gas, less overtime, and we're able to
    reallocate those officers to other missions.
        So, we will continue to do those scrubs of programs and
    operations to find savings, both in how we do what we do and
    the number of people that we need to do it with.
        Senator Hoeven. Okay. I actually was going to try and see
    if I could work this so the Chairman was back before I went to
    the vote. But, I think, given the time, that I'm going to have
    to excuse myself so that I can go vote. And then, I expect both
    the Chairman and myself will be back pretty shortly.
        Thank you.
        Senator Nelson. I think we can reconvene, here.
        And this is still to Ms. Erickson. Aside from the SIS
    program request, your fiscal year 2012 budget is very
    conservative. What measures are you using, internally within
    your agency, to control the costs?
        Ms. Erickson. Well, with a relatively small budget of $2
    million, I have to say that we're vigilant, on a daily basis,
    of watching our budget.
        Just a few examples. Our Senate library staff, every year,
    review the subscriptions and the database of subscriptions that
    we have. And this year, they were able to find $38,000 in
    savings over the next 3 years. Another example, our Senate
    chief employment counsel staff have eliminated the purchase of
    hardbound legal books, and have achieved $6,000 in annual
    savings. Our Senate Stationery Room tackled a project, at the
    request of Senate office administrators, to provide online
    ordering services to offices. Initially, we thought we would
    contract that out, and then, looking at the costs, we decided
    we'd do it internally, using the resources we have here,
    relying heavily on our Senate Webmaster to achieve some cost
    savings. Now, it may not have all the bells and whistles that
    an outside contractor would have provided us, but I'm confident
    it'll get the job done for Senate offices.
        Other small things we do: Not every staff member has a cell
    phone and BlackBerry. We limit those to individuals who are
    department directors or those who have emergency operation
    responsibilities. In the last 2 years, we've limited staff
    travel to attend training and conferences. So, those are just
    small ways that we try to achieve cost savings for our
    operational budget.
        With respect to salaries, as I mentioned to Senator Hoeven
    earlier, every time we have a vacancy, we scrutinize it to make
    sure that it's one that we really need to fill. And, in
    recognizing the tight economic times that we're in, I can think
    of, off the top of my head, four vacancies that we currently
    have had, in the last few months, that we plan to keep open and
    rely on existing staff to assume those duties.
        Senator Nelson. Well, thank you. And I commend you for the
    steps that you've taken to control costs, and submitting such a
    lean budget. And after giving you all those compliments, I
    guess it might come as a shock that I will ask the question: If
    you had to submit a 5-percent reduction from fiscal year 2011,
    do you have any thoughts about where you might make those kinds
    of reductions?
        Ms. Erickson. Well, we have a lean budget, so it would be
    tough. And many of the services that we provide are ones that
    we have statutory mandates to provide. But, we would do our
    best to scrutinize the budget to come up with those savings. We
    would do as directed by the Appropriations Committee.
        With respect to the SIS program, I have to say that, if we
    took a 5-percent cut, it would bring the level of funding for
    that program back to 2008 levels. And it would require us to
    make drastic cuts in the services provided to Senate offices.
        Senator Nelson. And the Senate offices don't want those
    drastic cuts in their service, do they?
        Ms. Erickson. They do not.
        Senator Nelson. I know.
        Ms. Erickson. In fact, recently, the leadership
    directories, which is one of the services under the SIS
    program, went dark for a few hours, and the phones in our
    Senate library were ringing off the hook with complaints from
    Senate staff. We like to keep them happy.
        Senator Nelson. Well, thank you. I appreciate it very much.
        As we look at the Senate SAA budget, your request, Mr.
    Gainer, is only slightly above 2011 enacted level. And I note
    that you would have been below, except for the 2.2 percent
    across-the-board cut that was applied to that bill. And once
    again, I'd like to commend you for submitting a budget that
    basically reflects a freeze in spending. And I have a couple of
    questions about your request and the current funding levels.
        Number one, does your increase in salary funding for fiscal
    year 2012 include a request for additional staff?
        Mr. Gainer. No, Sir, there are no additional staff
    requests.
        Senator Nelson. How much do you currently have in remaining
    prior year unobligated balances, which you have said you would
    like to see applied?
        Mr. Gainer. There is approximately $10 million of
    unobligated balances, Senator. And we have a plan for that
    money. Part of it goes to completing the work that we're doing
    with the Secretary of the Senate on the payroll system. We
    don't know if we have allocated enough to complete the project,
    so we are reserving some funds, in case there are additional
    requirements. We're reserving some funds that are related to
    the question you had about the personnel system, one large item
    that benefits the entire Senate community. And then, we'd have
    to prioritize those projects that we've deferred over these
    last couple years, and see how we would best use the funds.
        Senator Nelson. Right. And how much of those unobligated
    balances would expire at the end of fiscal year 2011 if not
    used?
        Mr. Gainer. Approximately $5 million will expire.
        Senator Nelson. All right. Unfortunately, if we're going to
    get our fiscal house in order, it's going to take a bit more
    than a freeze. So, I'd like to ask you the same question that I
    asked Ms. Erickson, just a minute ago. Do you have any areas
    that you might identify if you were looking at a 5-percent
    reduction from the previous number?
        Mr. Gainer. Five percent would be about $11 million for us,
    and we have considered that. Again, I believe we've deferred
    all that we should defer. And what we would do, Senator, is
    look to the State offices. Twenty-seven percent our operational
    costs go to support the 454 State offices, including computers,
    installation, network storage, etc. I think we'd have to go
    back to you and the other respective committees to say, ``Is it
    time to take another look at the number of statewide offices we
    have--454--and how they're staffed?'' That would be one way to
    spread the reductions.
        Then, I did mention to Senator Hoeven, if we can change the
    expectations of the Senators and their staff, and
    concomitantly, what your constituents want, we could the slow
    process down. We have a rapid response time on service
    requests. And, like people who have computers at home, it may
    be 3 or 4 years between the time I replace computers. We update
    and replace equipment more quickly here, so our movement toward
    virtual computers and cloud computing would look different.
    Every time a vendor comes out with a new device, we put it in
    our catalog. You pay for it out of your funds, but we have to
    have the systems to support it. We'd have to rethink all that.
        Senator Nelson. And, as a result of preparing for the
    threat in the Government shutdown last month, were you able to
    identify any efficiencies in services that, if implemented now,
    could potentially lead to future savings? I know we all had to
    take a look, internally, at the offices, and ask the basic
    questions about what was essential--not what was unnecessary,
    but what was essential. Did you find anything, in that
    exercise?
        Mr. Gainer. Well, one thing I found is we lost a lot of
    productivity preparing for the shutdown: the cost of about
    $200,000. But, I do not think that we had the ah-ha moment to
    say, ``We can do without that'', because the demand slows down.
        Senator Nelson. Yes. You're subject to whatever demand
    there is out there.
        And that is the same thing for you, Ms. Erickson. Did you
    find the same thing, the slowdown in demand, because everybody
    was busy doing their own thing internally in their own office?
        Ms. Erickson. Well, I'll chime in with Terry, that a lot of
    lost productivity was----
        Senator Nelson. Absolutely.
        Ms. Erickson [continuing]. Lost, that week, prior to the
    potential Government shutdown.
        We took the Antideficiency Act requirements very seriously
    in our operation. And we simply planned to keep open the small
    staff, in the Disbursing Office, that would have to issue the
    payroll during that period. And then, we planned, of course, to
    have our legislative staff here to maintain floor operations.
    But, the rest of our departments were closed, as required by
    the Antideficiency Act.
        Mr. Gainer. Senator, can I have make one remark----
        Senator Nelson. Sure.
        Mr. Gainer [continuing]. On that question?
        Senator Nelson. Sure.
        Mr. Gainer. It did dawn on me that during that whole shut
    down evolution, Christy Prietsch, who runs the Senate-wide
    Employee Assistance Program, saw the work in her office
    magnified 10 times. So, there was no small amount of angst on
    everyone's part. But, I'd also like, when we have an
    opportunity, to talk about some things that might make us all
    more efficient as we go through some of these exercises.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Terry, can you update us on the progress of the telecom
    modernization project?
        Mr. Gainer. Senator, I can. The good news is, we anticipate
    that the pilot project will be out not much later than the end
    of September. And the pilot project to roll out the new phone
    system that will continue to build on the Watson Program will
    involve a couple of the Senate offices, a portion of my own
    office, and some of the committees.
        It has taken us longer than expected. There have been some
    knockdown drag-out meetings, in my own office, about us being
    behind schedule on that. It's not because of a lack of will,
    but it's due to the evolving and complex nature of the project.
        So, we are now on track to get the pilot up that will have
    some of the other savings that go along with putting in that
    new system, the ease with moving around a phone, changing
    phones, and people being able to get their messages on their
    BlackBerrys. There are all sorts of enhancements that are
    efficiency-oriented. So, by the end of this calendar year, and
    into the beginning of the next calendar year, we'll move
    steadily through the Senate community, replacing all the
    phones.
        Senator Nelson. Do you anticipate the need for any
    additional funding for the project, or do you think we have it
    adequately funded, at the moment?
        Mr. Gainer. I do believe the funding is sufficient now,
    Senator.
        Senator Nelson. Good. Okay.
        Has the Senate community been receptive to the new Watson
    voice messaging system that was necessary that you got put in
    place?
        Mr. Gainer. Very much so. There were the initial hiccups as
    with any new system, but I think we quickly responded to those.
    We've worked with the Rules Committee and others. The response
    to that has been very good. It's helped with call waiting and
    call volume. The other real unique feature is the ability to
    get voicemail messages on your BlackBerry, or from your phone
    to your BlackBerry and your computer.
        Senator Nelson. I understand you're going to be issuing
    smart identification cards. What will the benefit be to that?
    And is there any unusual cost associated with it?
        Mr. Gainer. About one-third of those 454 statewide offices
    are in Federal buildings. And the Federal buildings are rapidly
    moving toward those ID cards. So, to make it more efficient for
    State staff members to get in and out of their offices, it will
    be very important. We've been after smart ID cards since my
    days as the Chief of the USCP. If we all had them, it would be
    a lot easier and more efficient for people to get in and out of
    the building. So, we have spent about $1.4 million on the
    project, so far. I think the annualized cost is somewhere in
    the range of $110,000-a-year; but, as the executive branch
    moves to these, we need to keep up.

         USCP deg.VALIDATING THE USCP FISCAL YEAR 2012 REQUEST

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Chief Morse, your agency and the CBO were the only two
    accounts that received an increased funding from fiscal year
    2010 level in the fiscal year 2011 continuing resolution. And
    it was done to annualize that funding correction due to the
    salary miscalculation at the Department in fiscal year 2010.
    Now, based on the work done by the outside contractors which
    were hired by the USCP Board last year, what steps have you
    taken to validate the accuracy of your fiscal year 2012 budget
    request? And how confident are you that we won't see, or have
    to adjust for, another shortfall at some point in the future?
        Chief Morse. With working with the Board's contractors,
    we've done a number of things. One is, as reported in my
    opening remarks, we have closed all eight recommendations
    associated with the audit of the budget formulation process.
    That enabled us to do several things. One is to go back to what
    had worked very well for us in implementing our Force
    Development Program, our environmental assessment, where we
    have a very responsible and reasonable approach, with respect
    to threats and risks. And that's what our budget is designed
    around.
        We also have implemented a top-down review of our budget to
    include the Investment Review Board, that we have done in the
    past, which includes our managers in the review of the process.
    We have started writing all standard operation procedures (SOP)
    related to the budget formulation process.
        And as an example, what we did, with respect to the
    formulation process itself, was have the people who actually
    work in those positions be a part of the formulation of those
    SOPs so that we would not only know the exact steps to take,
    but we would be a part of writing those SOPs for anyone in the
    future who may come in.
        Another step that we took was to ensure that we reviewed
    our positions there, our position descriptions, and then filled
    the most critical positions within that organization. And, as I
    said, I'm happy to report, we closed all those recommendations.
    The SOPs have been formulated for the process. They continue to
    be done as we move through the execution of our budget. We are
    very confident that we have produced a very solid and accurate
    budget, and one that we will continue to do into the future.
        Senator Nelson. Did the outside contractors coordinate with
    the GAO on the previous work done by the GAO on your budget? In
    other words, was there cooperation, corroboration back and
    forth?
        Chief Morse. We've had very good cooperation, not only with
    the GAO, but with the IG, with respect to the audit findings,
    previous recommendations that have been made. One of the things
    that we wanted to do, and they have been very helpful in doing,
    is ensuring that we're not duplicating any recommendations,
    that we're all on the same page, and that we're doing the most
    important things first, and that were ensuring that the things
    we do are the most efficient and effective for the formulation
    of our budget and the execution of it.

      USCP deg.BUDGET REQUEST AND ITS IMPACT ON THE LEGISLATIVE
                                     BRANCH

        Senator Nelson. In addition to the increased funding that I
    just mentioned, your department's asking for an additional
    $47.5 million, or 14 percent, in fiscal year 2012. To put it in
    further perspective, this $47.5 million increase is the
    equivalent to 1 percent of the legislative branch bill, as a
    whole. If this bill were held at a freeze, we'd need to cut
    every other agency by 1 percent, which I'm sure makes them very
    pleased, to make up for the increase in funding for the USCP.
    However, it's my goal that we reduce the funding by an
    additional 5 percent, if we can. But, if we fully fund the
    USCP, it means a 6-percent cut to everybody else. So, what do
    you say to your colleagues sitting at the table?
        Chief Morse. Well, you left me in a pretty bad position,
    didn't you? What I would say is, you're safe, and we intend to
    keep it that way.
        Senator Nelson. And you're packing, too.
        Chief Morse. Yes. There you go.
        Well, I would say that--look, I'm very humble, and I took
    responsibility for the miscalculations of 2010. And I take
    responsibility for anything that the USCP, unless it's good;
    and that's where I give the credit to the people that support
    me, like the USCP Board, this subcommittee, and the people that
    are sitting behind me today that work for me.
        I think it's important to say that a lot of our budget
    increases--you know, we have an explanation behind it that's
    very important to get out. One of the things I wanted to say
    was and with Senator Hoeven, I mentioned, too is that, we're
    not all about increases. We're also about, really, effectively
    and efficiently running our police department. We've worked
    with the Senate Sergeant at Arms Rules Committee, as the
    example was given in Mr. Gainer's opening remarks, where we
    saved well more than a half a million dollars. We are working
    with technology, in one of our programs currently, that will
    reduce the number of vehicles, people, gas, and maintenance. We
    scrubbed our open civilian vacancies and were able to
    reallocate those to other mission requirements that were placed
    on us so that we wouldn't have to raise the cost of or, raise
    the size of our police department. We've done a fleet vehicle
    leasing program that this subcommittee reviewed and approved,
    and, over a course of time, saved several million dollars, over
    the next 10 years, with regard to purchasing, which enables us
    to have a refreshed fleet, it enables us to do our mission more
    carefully. We've scrubbed programs within our police
    department, where we have improved the efficiency and
    effectiveness. We were able to save 11 positions. We were then
    able to get rid of a multimillion-dollar contract for alarm
    monitoring, bring that in-house. We looked at USCP employees
    previously transferred to the Department of Labor, and brought
    them back and gave them positions.
        So, we have worked very, very hard to save money, be
    creative in saving money. But, the mission comes first for us,
    and sometimes the mission continues to grow.
        And with respect to the question I heard earlier, with
    respect to a 5-percent cut from the 2011 to the 2008 levels, as
    an example, after the 2008 budget, we incurred two very large
    mission requirements. One was the merger with the LOC, and the
    other was the opening of the Capitol Visitor Center.
        So, all those types of things have to be considered, with
    respect to our budget. And I appreciate all my partners in the
    room, and their contribution and support to our police
    department. But, I also wanted them to know that we work very,
    very hard not to increase our costs, but to find ways to save
    money.
        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Senator Hoeven.
        Senator Hoeven. Thanks, Mr. Chairman.
        You know, I think you may be covering the same point that I
    want to explore for just a minute. I thought both Nancy and
    Terry did a very good job of expressing how they would approach
    any further reductions that we may need to make, and I agree
    with that approach.
        In the security area, it's challenging, to say the least,
    because, on the one hand, we can tell Members of Congress and
    the Senators, ``Look, if we have to compress some budgets,
    you're going to have to do without some services. I mean, just
    understand that's what this means. So, that means you may not
    have as many constituent offices in your State, and the
    associated personnel, and so forth, that goes with them.'' But,
    I think, in a very direct way, we can go back to the Members
    and say--and obviously, on the House side, they do it, and, on
    the Senate side, we do it--but, go back to our Members and say,
    ``Look, these are the kinds of changes we're going to have to
    make. What do you want? What don't you want? And there's an
    associated cost or reduction that goes with it.'' And I think
    that's how we would, in all likelihood, have to approach most
    of it, other than to the extent we can defer projects or defer
    maintenance, which, as you rightfully said, catches up with
    you. But, I think that's how we'll have to approach these
    things.
        In the security area, it seems to me that is a particularly
    challenging proposition, just given the nature of both the
    additional projects you've been asked to take on and just the
    nature of security, in general, both for elected individuals,
    but also for the public that's here and in these facilities and
    around the country.
        So, we started to get into it a little bit before I left
    for the vote, but I just want you, Chief, to explore for me for
    a minute what realistic possibilities does that give us? Now, I
    notice, right now, it appears that you have a number of vacancy
    positions, relative to your full-time authorized, and you are
    asking for nine more positions for 2012. So, maybe just, if you
    haven't already touched on both your roughly 25 or so vacant
    positions now, and the 9 additional. But then, if you would,
    really touch on--how would I go back to the Members, or how
    would the chairman go back to his Members and say, ``If you
    want some reductions these are the things that are going to
    have to happen?'' What would that dialogue look like?

                 USCP deg.FISCAL YEAR 2012 REDUCTIONS

        Chief Morse. Okay, well, with respect to the authorized
    strength, we did take--we have an authorized strength of 443,
    with our civilians. We scrubbed 22 of those positions that are
    currently vacant and said, ``Let's reallocate those instead of
    growing the sworn--or, growing the overall strength of the
    department, let's just reallocate those--nine of those
    positions to the sworn positions, and ask for the funding for
    those, in order to accomplish that new mission of opening a new
    building.'' So, that is where we reallocated, from within, to
    not grow, overall.
        But, with respect to security, it's ever-evolving. The
    threat continuously changes. They're trying to stay one step
    ahead of us, and it's important for us to stay ahead of them.
    Therefore, it's sometimes hard to predict, you know, what the
    next type of emerging threat may be, so we have to, obviously,
    maintain the highest level of technology. So, when you look at
    cutting general expenses, and you look at the agency trying to
    stay within the budget constraints provided, we get into
    deferring life-cycle replacement. You can do that for a time,
    but then it does start to adversely affect security, because
    now you're behind in technology, or the technology you have
    starts to break down on you. So, deferring those costs is not
    something that you want to do to--for too many cycles. You have
    to constantly, as I said, think ahead of the adversary.
    Sometimes that means the responsibility of securing things that
    may be temporary, like some of these projects. These are not
    permanent increases, they're temporary increases, but they're
    needed in order to reduce the risk and threat that those can
    pose while those projects are ongoing.
        So, the only other way, without cutting security, is to cut
    mission. And cut mission is one thing that we worked on, with
    respect to the door-closure plan.
        Senator Hoeven. All right.
        Chief Morse. We simply looked at hours of operation, the
    number of people that are screened through those locations, and
    we looked at the impact that may have on the institution's
    responsibility to be able to work freely. So, we measured that,
    and we were able to find savings. I think we have to continue
    to do that.
        Senator Hoeven. Yes.
        Chief Morse. And I would not recommend that we cut
    security, but that we look at mission, and find other
    innovative ways to reduce the amount of mission that we have,
    which then results in a reduction in overtime, a reduction in
    people; and you are not sacrificing security for that.
        Senator Hoeven. Right. But--and I think that--with your
    indulgence, Mr. Chairman--that does make sense, both in terms
    of timelines--how long facilities are open, the number of
    facilities that are open--that makes sense.
        Chief Morse. Yes. Yes, Sir.
        Mr. Gainer. One of the things that the USCP Board--the
    House SAA, myself, and the AOC--is doing under the Chief's
    leadership, is to reach out to Homeland Security and the Secret
    Service. For instance, we each have an entire operation that
    does screening of vehicles and trucks. So, we said, ``Is there
    efficiency in trying to do something together?'' And the
    Chief's staff have been working very hard with Director
    Sullivan's staff to see how we can merge the systems. We're
    nearing completion. The Congress has given the USCP Board and
    the AOC property where we plan to build the model offsite
    delivery facility. We've entered into discussions with Homeland
    Security and the Secret Service to make that a joint project.
    So, while it doesn't help your numbers here, if the Office of
    Management and Budget were giving credit for something being
    done, this is a way we're trying to minimize stovepipes here in
    the District.
        Senator Hoeven. I think that's right on. I mean, I would
    have to see your reaction across the board. I think it is right
    on. And there may be some opportunities here. And, of course,
    we would give some credit for those savings that we help
    generate with others in any kind of joint endeavor. But, I do
    have to say that I appreciate, very much, your responses to my
    questions. And I agree, I think you're looking at things the
    right way. And so, thank you, again, for the good work that you
    do.

          USCP deg.CONVENTION AND PRE-INAUGURAL SUPPORT COSTS

        Senator Nelson. Thank you, Senator Hoeven.
        Chief, you have $3 million, I think it is, for the coverage
    of conventions and pre-Inaugural support planning. How did you
    arrive at that $3 million? Is it based on prior experience,
    within--that in mind? Or, how did you do that?
        Chief Morse. Yes, we use historical data, and also, site
    location drives the cost. But, in those costs, obviously, are,
    you know, travel, transportation, rental, per diem, et cetera.
    And those costs are derived from previous conventions and,
    obviously, Inauguration support.

                         USCP deg.IG INCREASES

        Senator Nelson. I noticed, on the IG increase, that you
    asked for three additional FTEs for the IG's staff. How many
    staff does the IG currently have, at the present time?
        Chief Morse. Including the IG, four.
        Senator Nelson. Four? Now, you're almost doubling the IG
    staff there. What is the basis for determining that you need to
    add three additional to the current staffing?
        Chief Morse. The request for increase comes from the IG and
    his justifications to the USCP Board. And with their approval,
    those numbers were derived. So, it's not based on my
    justification for increase.
        Senator Nelson. And you'd rather not make him mad.
        Mr. Gainer. Senator, from a USCP Board perspective, of
    which I am the chairman this year--Bill Livingood, the House
    SAA, and I rotate that each year--the Inspector General has
    steadily asked for additional staff over the years, and we've
    steadily said no, except we now see that we're missing some
    opportunities to conduct audits. With the help of those audits
    and investigations, Phil's operation could be more efficient.
        Senator Nelson. So, we could realize some savings,
    ultimately, with more efficiency being pointed out through the
    IG's audits? Is that part of our justification?
        Chief Morse. Yes. I welcome help----
        Senator Nelson. Sure.
        Chief Morse [continuing]. And assistance and
    recommendations. And the ones that I've been getting from the
    USCP Board, obviously, the IGs and the GAO, all have led to
    productive, efficient outcomes.

                 USCP deg.RADIO MODERNIZATION PROJECT

        Senator Nelson. How's the radio modernization project
    working out for us?
        Chief Morse. Well, currently--there are five phases in the
    radio modernization project--currently, we're in a combined
    phase 3 and 4. That phase is the acquisition, procurement, and
    testing, and some installation and construction that's ongoing.
        We have two mirror sites. The one mirror site is about 97
    percent complete and on target for its completion date. The
    second mirror site is about 18 percent complete and on target
    for its completion date.
        There are requests for proposals associated with this with
    the money that's been obligated. Those RFPs, a total of five.
    One was released and awarded. The other two have been released
    and are in a phase of either closure or technical inspection.
    And then, the other two are pending release either this month
    or next month.
        Senator Nelson. Do you think that the $7.2 million being
    requested in fiscal year 2012 represents the last installment
    for the project?
        Chief Morse. In the 2011 appropriation that you provided
    us, we were on a diet in our general expenses. By enabling us
    to not change the enacted general expense from the previous
    year, we'll be able to derive the $7.2 million from that
    general expense and, therefore, will rescind that from our 2012
    budget request.
        Senator Nelson. All right.
        I believe that's all the questions that I have.
        Senator Hoeven.
        Senator Hoeven. I don't have any additional questions,
    unless there's any other comment, as a result of this hearing,
    that anybody would like to make.
        Mr. Gainer. Would you mind if I just opined two things?
        We would hope you might consider a single salary and
    expense appropriation for us, as the majority of executive
    branch agencies do, and some of the legislative branch. We have
    about 10 accounts that my Chief Financial Officer says, ``If I
    were dreaming, it would be nice to reduce the number of funds,
    and have the flexibility in the movement of funds, with all the
    appropriate oversight.'' But, maybe take another look at that.
        This one may be more of a stretch. I've long thought, as I
    did in State government, that I wish we could do biennial
    appropriations so that we could do a little better planning on
    the purchase and replacement of equipment and securing
    contracts. In 10 years in State government, I never had any
    success to do that, but, it's a dream, from an agency
    perspective. I don't know how much more of a headache it gives
    your staff, but it makes our job a little bit easier.
        Senator Hoeven. Well, we'll ask the budget analysts to look
    into the salary line.
        And again, Mr. Chairman, as long as it is with your
    agreement.
        Senator Nelson. Sure.
        Senator Hoeven. I agree on the 2-year--matter of fact, I'm
    cosponsoring legislation to go to a 2-year budget cycle. So, I
    absolutely agree with you. And anything we can do, in the
    interim, without legislation, to look at that, I agree. I think
    they're both good ideas. We'll see what we can do.
        Mr. Gainer. Thank you.
        Senator Nelson. I would agree. And I'm looking at perhaps
    sponsoring that legislation, myself. We're looking at it
    internally. But, having gone through biennial budgeting in the
    past, it certainly would avoid having us make a pie a piece at
    a time around here, the way we have to. We would have a more
    comprehensive approach. I think you're absolutely on target.
    And I hope many of my colleagues will feel the same way.
        Mr. Gainer. Thank you, Sir.

                             CONCLUSION OF HEARINGS

        Senator Nelson. Thank you.
        Well, thanks, all of you. I appreciate it very much.
        And we're recessed. Thank you.
        [Whereupon, at 3 p.m., Thursday, May 12, the hearings were
    concluded, and the subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene
    subject to the call of the Chair.]7

           LIST OF WITNESSES, COMMUNICATIONS, AND PREPARED STATEMENTS

                                  ----------
                                                                       Page

    Ayers, Stephen T., Architect of the Capitol......................     1
        Prepared Statement of........................................     5
        Summary Statement of.........................................     3

    Billington, Hon. James H., Librarian of Congress, Library of
      Congress.......................................................    87
        Prepared Statement of........................................    90
        Questions Submitted to.......................................   115
        Summary Statement of.........................................    88
    Boarman, William J., Public Printer, Government Printing Office..    54
        Prepared Statement of........................................    56
        Questions Submitted to.......................................    82
    Chrisler, Tamara E., Esq., Executive Director, Office of
      Compliance.....................................................    18
        Prepared Statement of........................................    20
        Questions Submitted to.......................................    40

    Dizard Jr., Robert, Chief of Staff, Library of Congress..........    87
    Doby, Chris, Financial Clerk, Office of the Secretary, U.S.
      Senate.........................................................   121
    Dodaro, Gene L., Comptroller General, Government Accountability
      Office.........................................................    45
        Prepared Statement of........................................    48
        Questions Submitted to.......................................    77
        Summary Statement of.........................................    46
    Dwyer, Sheila, Assistant Secretary, Office of the Secretary, U.S.
      Senate.........................................................   121

    Elmendorf, Douglas W., Ph.D., Director, Congressional Budget
      Office.........................................................    61
        Prepared Statement of........................................    63
        Questions Submitted to.......................................    84
    Erickson, Hon. Nancy, Secretary of the Senate, Office of the
      Secretary, U.S. Senate.........................................   121
        Prepared Statement of........................................   125
        Summary Statement of.........................................   123

    Gainer, Hon. Terrance W., Senate Sergeant at Arms, Sergeant at
      Arms and Doorkeeper............................................   192
        Prepared Statement of........................................   194

    Hoeven, Senator John, U.S. Senator From North Dakota:
        Prepared Statement of........................................   190
        Questions Submitted by..........................40, 77, 82, 84, 115
        Statement of.................................................     2

    Morse, Phillip D., Sr., Chief, United States Capitol Police......   217
        Prepared Statement...........................................   218
    Mulhollan, Daniel P., Director, Congressional Research Service,
      Library of Congress............................................    87
        Prepared Statement of........................................    92

    Nelson, Senator Ben, U.S. Senator From Nebraska, Opening
      Statements of..........................................1, 45, 87, 121

    O'Keefe, Ambassador John, Executive Director, Open World
      Leadership Center..............................................   101
        Prepared Statement of........................................   102

    Pallante, Maria, Acting Register of Copyrights, Copyright Office,
      Library of Congress............................................    87
        Prepared Statement of........................................    95

                                 SUBJECT INDEX

                                  ----------

                            ARCHITECT OF THE CAPITOL

                                                                       Page

    AOC Accomplishments..............................................    15
    AOC's Commitment and Staff.......................................     4
    Additional Committee Questions...................................    40
    Addressing Deferred Projects Within Budget Constraints...........    25
    Annual Operating Budget Request..................................    14
    Blue Ribbon Panel................................................    26
    Budget:
        Challenges...................................................    39
        Cuts and Impact..............................................    22
    Capitol:
        Budget Request and Project Prioritization....................     8
        Dome Project.................................................    29
    Deferred Maintenance vs. New Projects............................    37
    Energy Reduction Requirements....................................    36
    Fiscal Year 2012 Capitol Budget Request..........................     7
    Gap Analysis.....................................................    35
    House Historic Buildings Revitalization Trust Fund...............    38
    Integrating Financial Management Systems.........................    35
    Life-Safety Enhancements and Energy Efficiency Improvements......    12
    Operations Budget Personnel Costs................................    38
    Prioritized Projects.............................................     4
    Project Prioritization Process...................................    24
    Reducing Costs/Services..........................................    30
    Utility Tunnel Repairs--Radio Project............................    29

                          CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE

    Additional Committee Questions...................................    77
    CBO Budget.......................................................    61
    Cost Estimates...................................................    71
    Current Fiscal Year Funding......................................    62
    Decrease Funding.................................................    84
    Entitlement Analyses.............................................    73
    Impact on Analyses...............................................    84
    IT Resources.....................................................    71
    Recent Funding History...........................................    64
    Request for Studies..............................................    72
    Some Details of the CBO's Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request........    65
    Staffing:
        Level........................................................    71
        And Hiring...................................................    73
    Supplemental Funds...............................................    62

                        GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE

    Additional Committee Questions...................................    77
    Appendix:
        IV--Serving the Congress and the Nation: The GAO's Strategic
          Plan Framework.............................................    53
        I--The GAO's 2011 High-Risk List.............................    50
        III--How the GAO Assisted the Nation, Fiscal Year 2010.......    52
        II--Selected Testimony Topics, Fiscal Year 2010..............    51
    Constrained Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request......................    50
    Duplication Report...............................................    78
    GAO:
        Assistance Helps the Congress Make Informed Decisions........    76
        Balances Resources with Priorities...........................    74
        Field Offices................................................    80
        Resources Used To Oversee the Troubled Asset Relief Program..    68
    General Budget...................................................    77
    Methodology Behind GAO's Report on Program Duplication--GAO-11-
      318SP..........................................................    69
    The:
        GAO Maintains Effective Workforce Relations..................    50
        GAO's:
            Efforts Help the Congress Address Domestic and
              International Challenges...............................    49
            Mission..................................................    53

                           GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE

    Additional Committee Questions...................................    77
    Congressional Printing and Binding...............................    82
    Fiscal Year 2012 Appropriations Request..........................    59
    GPO..............................................................    56
        Estimates of Work............................................    75
        Staffing.....................................................    74
    GPO's Support for Congress.......................................    55
    Inaugural Printing...............................................    67
    Investment Funds.................................................    68
    150th Anniversary of the Government Printing Office..............    60
    Printing Costs...................................................    66
    Revolving Fund...................................................    83
    Salaries and Expenses of the Superintendent of Documents.........    83

                              LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

    Acknowledgement of Dan Mulhollan.................................    88
    Additional Committee Questions...................................   114
    Addressing Fiscal Challenges.....................................    89
    Broad:
        Perspective of Multiple Disciplines..........................   112
        Scope of the LOC Mission.....................................   108
    CRS:
        Request......................................................   110
        Pooled Staff for the Congress................................    92
    Cloud Computing..................................................   118
    Considered Programs for the Cloud................................   118
    Consolidation of Data Center Assets..............................   117
    Content Management...............................................   116
    Copyright Records Digitization Project...........................    97
    Cost of Protecting Electronic Information........................   118
    Customer Satisfaction............................................    94
    Electronic Serials Project.......................................    98
    Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request..................................    95
    Fort Meade Module 5..............................................   115
    IT Security Funding..............................................   116
    Impact of:
        Fiscal Year 2011 Continuing Resolution.......................   106
        Not Funding IT Security......................................   116
        Personnel Cuts...............................................   108
        Reduced Funding..............................................   115
    Infrastructure for the Information Age...........................   110
    Legal and Policy Activities......................................    98
    Licensing Division Re-Engineering................................    98
    Limited Flexibility To Absorb Cuts...............................   109
    Minimal Increase in Fiscal 2012 Request..........................   107
    Opportunities To Defer Requirements..............................   108
    Permanent Damage of Reducing Acquisitions........................   107
    Program:
        Funding......................................................    97
        Overview.....................................................    96
    Registration of Copyright Claims.................................    97
    Restoring Information............................................   116
    Sensitive Data Controls..........................................   118
    Specifics of CRS Request.........................................   110
    Support for the Congress.........................................    93

                              OFFICE OF COMPLIANCE

    Additional Committee Questions...................................    40
    Budget Cuts......................................................    40
        And Impact...................................................    22
    Changes to the CAA...............................................    42
    Impact of Budget Cuts............................................    19
    Need for Inspectors..............................................    19
    Project Prioritization Process...................................    24
    Risk-Based Approach to Investigations............................    18
    Safety and Health Amendments That Will Result in Cost Savings....    42
    What:
        Happens With Cuts Below Current Levels.......................    22
        We:
            Can Do With Fiscal Year 2011 and Fiscal Year 2012 Funding    21
            Cannot Do Even With What We Requested....................    21
    Workplace Rights Amendments That Will Result in Cost Savings.....    43

                        OPEN WORLD LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE

    Additional Committee Questions...................................   114
    Effectiveness of OWLC............................................   101
    In-Kind Giving and Support.......................................   113
    Investment for the Congress and Asset for Constituents...........   101
    Open World Strategic Plan Objectives and Costs...................   113
    OWLC and the Congress............................................   103
    OWLC's 2011 Activities and Plans for 2012........................   105
    Ramifications of Funding at Fiscal Year 2010 Level...............   113
    Recent Program Highlights and Results............................   104

                          UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE

    Budget Request and its Impact on the Legislative Branch..........   231
    Convention and Pre-Inaugural Support Costs.......................   234
    Environmental Assessment.........................................   225
    Fiscal Year 2012 Reductions......................................   233
    IG Increases.....................................................   234
    Radio Modernization Project......................................   235
    Validating the USCP Fiscal Year 2012 Request.....................   230

                                  U.S. SENATE

                            Office of the Secretary

    Administrative Offices...........................................   149
    Bill Clerk.......................................................   128
    Captioning Services..............................................   129
    Conservation and Preservation....................................   151
    Curator..........................................................   151
    Daily Digest.....................................................   129
    Education and Training...........................................   157
    Enrolling Clerk..................................................   133
    Executive Clerk..................................................   133
    Financial Operations.............................................   136
    Gift Shop........................................................   158
    Historical Office................................................   159
    Human Resources..................................................   164
    Implementing Mandated Systems....................................   125
    Information Systems..............................................   165
    Interparliamentary Services......................................   167
    Journal Clerk....................................................   134
    Legislative Offices..............................................   127
    Library..........................................................   169
    LIS Project......................................................   168
    Official Reporters of Debates....................................   135
    Page School......................................................   179
    Parliamentarian..................................................   135
    Presenting the Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request...................   125
    Printing and Document Services...................................   180
    Public Records...................................................   182
    Stationery Room..................................................   183
    Web Technology...................................................   183

                        Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper

    Capitol Facilities...............................................   209
    Central Operations...............................................   207
    Continuity and Emergency Preparedness Operations.................   196
    CVC..............................................................   209
    Doorkeepers......................................................   210
    Employee Assistance Program......................................   215
    Enhancing:
        Security for the Senate......................................   203
        Service to the Senate........................................   201
        Stewardship..................................................   205
    Financial Plan for Fiscal Year 2012..............................   215
    Intelligence and Protective Services.............................   199
    IT...............................................................   200
    Media Galleries..................................................   212
    Operations.......................................................   206
    Parking Operations...............................................   207
    Photography Studio...............................................   208
    Senate:
        Appointment Desks............................................   210
        Hair Care....................................................   208
        Office of Education and Training.............................   214
        Post Office..................................................   208
        Recording Studio.............................................   211
    Transportation and Fleet Operations..............................   207

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